Abstract
The 1956 Suez Crisis is traditionally interpreted as the moment
when the United States assumed Western leadership in its entirety,
as the United Kingdom, badly beaten over its joint intervention in
Egypt with France and Israel, retreated from any imperial
pretentions and the thought of playing a global role. However, this
paper argues that such a view indicates an unconsidered assessment
of the crisis and is wholly unsupported by the diplomatic and
historical record. Rather, the Suez Crisis was but a single episode
in the complex and developing post-war Anglo-American alliance: any
ill will was quickly swept under the rug as both the United States
and the United Kingdom realized that through cooperation instead of
opposition they could each better achieve their interests
throughout the Middle East, namely continued access to the region's
petroleum and "containment" of the spread of international
Communism. These were the two chief prizes for British and American
statesmen, and both oil and the Soviet threat played a key role in
Anglo-American diplomacy before, during, and after the Suez
episode. Entrenched grudges and American economic pressure
transformed the Suez Crisis from an unpleasant geopolitical
conflict into one that was intensely personal. However, the United
States and the United Kingdom were wiser than to allow bruised egos
to prevent a continuation of their war-time partnership in this
most vital of theaters, the Middle East, and each, therefore,
strove to further his individual and shared interests in the region
through cooperation and consultation with the other.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Chapter I: Deciding to Fight 3
Chapter II: A Risky Business: Britain's Precarious Economic System
and American Economic Diplomacy 11
Chapter III: A Changing of the Guard? 27
Conclusion 49
Bibliography 55
About this Honors Thesis
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