Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Hanne, Eric

Abstract

Occurring in the context of the Cold War, the 1958 Lebanese Crisis forced U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and top policymakers to balance a multitude of factors when considering an appropriate response to the crisis. While Eisenhower claimed publicly that Operation Blue Bat was an intervention aimed at containing the every looming threat of communism, meeting records of top U.S. policy makers contradict such explanations and offer insight to the President’s true motivations. Eisenhower instead sought to maintain U.S. influence among a coalition of Middle Eastern conservative governments operating in a U.S. led regional military alliance. The crisis forced the President to reconcile his foreign policy objectives with the political and cultural reality of the region and prompted a major foreign policy reassessment in which Eisenhower turned away from top-down international alliance building and instead, worked to address the obvious need to court public opinion in the Arab world.

Extent

111 p.

Comments

Includes bibliography.|Thesis (MA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2024.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Includes bibliography.

Identifier

FA00014501

Format

pdf

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