History 43.9
The United States and the Middle East
KC Johnson
This course examines
relations between the United States and the Middle East from
the 18th century until today.
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Books:
Misc.:
All
journal articles will be posted on the course website or
supplied electronically.
All
primary documents will be posted on the course website.
Lecture notes will
be posted on the website (under the date of the class)
immediately following the class session.
Grades:
-
Examinations
(50%)
-
Group
presentation (30%)
-
Quizzes
(10%)
-
Participation
(10%)
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COURSE SCHEDULE
January 30: Introduction
February 1:
18th and 19th
Century Contacts
-
Michael
Kitzen, “Money Bags or Cannon Balls: The Origins of the
Tripolitan War, 1795-1801,” Journal of the Early
Republic, Vol. 16, pp. 601-624.
February 6:
World War I and Its Aftermath
-
Erez Manela, “The Wilsonian Moment and the Rise of
Anticolonial Nationalism: The Case of Egypt,”
Diplomacy & Statecraft, Vol. 12, pp. 99-122.
-
Robert Vitalis, “The
‘New Deal’ in Egypt: The Rise of Anglo-American
Rivalry,” Diplomatic History. Vol. 20, pp.
211-239.
Documents:
February 8:
World War II and Its Immediate Aftermath
- Peter Hahn, Caught
in the Middle East, pp. 9-19.
Documents:
- “The
Roosevelt Administration and Jewish Refugees”
-
Truman
and Iran; Foreign Relations of the United States:
--The Soviet position: page
1 (bottom);
2;
3
--The United States responds:
1;
2;
3;
4
--Soviet/American discussion of matter:
1;
2;
3
February 13:
The United States and the Formation of Israel--QUIZ
#1 (just on documents from 1947 and 1948)
- Hahn, Caught in the
Middle East, pp. 20-66.
Documents:
- “Documents
Related to the Recognition of Israel”
February 15: No
class--TRANSITION DAY
February 20:
The Cold War and the Search for Stability in the Middle East--QUIZ
#2
- Hahn, Caught in the
Middle East, pp. 67-157.
Documents:
“The Secret CIA History of the Iran
Coup”:
February 22:
The Middle East and Water Diplomacy (Special Guest Lecture:
Prof. Reguer)
February 27:
The Suez and Algerian Crises and U.S. Foreign Policy
- Hahn, Caught in the
Middle East, pp. 194-222.
- Irwin Wall, “The
United States, Algeria, and the Fall of the Fourth
French Republic,” Diplomatic History. Vol. 18,
pp. 489-510.
- Matthew Connelly,
“Rethinking the Cold War
and Decolonization: The Grand Strategy of the Algerian
War for Independence,”
International Journal of Middle
East Studies,
Vol. 33, No. 2,
pp. 221-245.
March 1: John
Kennedy and Israel
-
Avner Cohen, “Israel and the Origins of U.S.
Nonproliferation Policy: The Crucial Decade, 1958-1968,” The Nonproliferation Review,
Vol. 1988, pp. 1-19.
Documents:
March 6: LBJ
and the Middle East
- Galia Golan, “The
Soviet Union and the Outbreak of the June 1967 Six-Day
War,” Journal of Cold War
Studies, Vol. 8, pp. 3-19.
- Zach Levey, “The
United States’ Skyhawk Sale to Israel, 1966: Strategic
Exigencies of an Arms Deal,” Diplomatic History,
Vol. 28, pp. 255-276.
-
LBJ transcripts (please print out and bring to
class)
March 8:
The United States and Middle East Wars--QUIZ
#3
- Timothy Naftali, Blind
Spot, pp. 1-77.
Documents:
March 13:
Crisis Diplomacy
Documents:
- Memorandum of Conversation [Memcon]
between Muhammad Hafez Ismail and Henry Kissinger,
20 May 1973
- Henry Kissinger, Memorandum for
the President's Files, "President's Meeting with General
Secretary Leonid Brezhnev on Saturday,
June 23, 1973"
- Brezhnev to Nixon,
24 October 1973
- Nixon to Brezhnev,
25 October 1973
- Memcon, "Meeting with Oil
Company Executives," 5:30 p.m.,
26 October 1973
- Kissinger memorandum for the
President's File, "Meeting with Soviet Ambassador
Anatoliy F. Dobrynin on Tuesday,
October 30, 1973"
- Memcon between Meir, Nixon, and
Kissinger,
1 November 1973
March 15: The United States from Camp David through the Iranian
Revolution
- Naftali, Blind Spot,
pp. 99-149.
Documents:
March 20: Midterm
March 22:
Ronald Reagan and Middle East Terrorism
- Naftali, Blind Spot,
pp. 150-226.
- Theodore Draper, “The
Iran-Contra Affair: An Autopsy,” New York Review of
Books, December 17, 1987, pp. 67-77.
March 27:
Afghanistan and the Soviet-American Rivalry
- Steve
Coll, Ghost Wars, pp. 19-185.
March 29:
Group meetings
April 3: No class--spring
break
April 5: No class--spring break
April 10: No class--spring break
April 12: Gulf
War, I--QUIZ #4
- Zachary Karabell,
“Prelude to War: US Policy Toward Iraq 1988-1990,”
Kennedy School of Government Case Program,
C16-94-1245.0. Download with following
link.
- Gulf War chronology;
at
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/cron/.
For the quiz, you only need to know the chronology, not
the material from the links.
Documents:
April 17: The Clinton Years
- Coll, Ghost Wars,
pp. 314-396.
- Benny Morris and Ehud
Barak, “Camp
David: An Exchange,” New York Review of Books,
13 June 2001
- Hussein Agha and
Robert Malley, “Camp
David: Tragedy of Errors,” New York Review of
Books, 9 Aug. 2001
- Dennis Ross, “Camp
David: An Exchange,” New York Review of Books,
20 Sept. 2001
Documents:
- U.S.
vetoes of UN resolutions relating to Israel
GROUP MEETINGS:
6.15: Lebanon and Syria
April 19: 9/11
and Its Aftermath--QUIZ #5
Final Report of the
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United
States:
April 24: U.S.
Military Involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq
- Naftali, Blind
Spot, pp. 286-326.
- Seymour
Hersh, “The Coming Wars,” New Yorker, 24 Jan.
2005
- Seymour
Hersh, “Stovepipe,” New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2003
- Kevin Woods, James
Lacey, and Williamson Murray, “Saddam’s
Delusions: The View from the Inside,” Foreign
Affairs, May/June 2006
April 26: The Bush Administration, Israel, and Lebanon
-
George
Gavrilis, “The Forgotten West Bank,” Foreign Affairs,
January/February 2006.
-
Shibley
Telhami, “The Ties That Bind: Americans, Arabs, and
Israelis After September 11,” Foreign Affairs,
March/April 2004.
Documents--International Court of Justice and Israeli security fence:
Group
Presentations
Students
will be divided into groups of 4-5 at the beginning of the
course. Each group will be asked to prepare a one-class
briefing, on an issue of contemporary relevance, for a
hypothetical National Security Adviser and his/her staff.
Presentations will be expected to draw on the themes and
lessons of the previous weeks, and will include 25 minutes
of questioning from both the instructor and classmates.
Topics include U.S. policy toward:
May 1: Iran
Briefing Book:
May 3: Regional terrorism
May 8: Israel
May 10: Promotion of democracy
May 15: Syria and Lebanon
May 17: Turkey
Course Bibliography
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