Eisenhower Doctrine (1957)

Policy affirming the U.S. intention to dispense economic and military assistance to Middle Eastern nations to contain communism. From the early days of his administration, President Dwight D. Eisenhower recognized the need to develop a policy that would limit Soviet influence in the Middle East and protect U.S. oil interests.

The rise of Arab nationalism in many Middle Eastern nations in the 1950s was of great concern to the United States, as various Arab nationalist leaders were poised to overturn established governments. Eisenhower believed that new nationalist regimes would destabilize the Middle East and invite Soviet intervention.

Eisenhower was deeply concerned about the stability of Iran in 1953. The Iranian nationalist Mohammed Mossadeq was in power and had nationalized the oil industry, wresting control from a British-owned oil company. Although a British problem, Eisenhower was alarmed because the left-leaning Mossadeq was responding to overtures by the Soviet Union. Eisenhower feared that the Soviet Union would support the Mossadeq government, eventually closing off the Iranian oil supply to Great Britain, the United States, and its allies.

As a result, the United States supported a covert, CIA-backed overthrow of Mossadeq's government and the establishment of General Fazlollah Zahedi as the prime minister, with the shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, reinstated as the head of state. The United States sent $45 million to bolster the new pro-U.S. government. Eisenhower was satisfied with the success of this mission and believed that the United States must assert itself throughout the Middle East to stake its claim to the region's oil supply.

Egyptian nationalist Gamal Abdel Nasser, who ousted British colonial rulers from Egypt and became the leader of Egypt in 1954, also concerned Eisenhower. Nasser exerted power not only in Egypt but also was influential throughout the Arab world. When the U.S. officials learned that Nasser had agreed to a covert weapons deal with the Soviet Union, the United States and Britain attempted to woo him by offering to help fund his mission to build the Aswan Dam on the Nile River, a huge modernization project. When Nasser gave diplomatic recognition to the Communist People's Republic of China and entertained offers from the Soviet Union to finance the Aswan Dam, the United States recanted its offer.

In 1956, Nasser nationalized the British- and French-controlled Suez Canal in an effort to fund the Aswan Dam project. Diplomatic means of resolving the conflict failed when Britain bombed Egyptian military bases on October 31. The UN General Assembly called for Britain, France, and Israel to cease fire, and on November 7, all three nations laid down their arms.

Eisenhower immediately acted to stabilize the Middle East. Most of all, he hoped to stop the Soviets from gaining influence in the region. With Egypt besieged, the Soviet Union had come to its defense during the Suez crisis. Eisenhower wanted to make sure that the Soviets gained no further ground.

The last of the British and French troops left the Suez on December 22, 1956. The next month, on January 5, 1957, Eisenhower proposed his Eisenhower Doctrine to Congress, in which he asked that U.S. economic and military assistance be given to any Middle Eastern government attempting to resist communist or Soviet encroachment. Congress approved the Eisenhower Doctrine in March.

...