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Eisenhower Doctrine Facts

Eisenhower Doctrine Facts
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States engaged each other in a number of proxy wars around the world, but never directly. Most of the proxy wars took place in the Third World and by the late 1950s, after the Suez Canal Crisis of 1956, it was becoming apparent that the Soviets were attempting to exert more influence in the Middle East. On January 5, 1957, in a message to Congress, President Dwight Eisenhower related his "Eisenhower Doctrine" whereby he pledged to give American financial and military support to any Middle Eastern country that was perceived to be threatened by communism. Before that time the United States was never very involved in the affairs of the Middle East, but it marked the beginning of a long and complicated series of relationships that United States fostered with Israel, Egypt, and other nations in the region.
Interesting Eisenhower Doctrine Facts:
The Eisenhower Doctrine was part of an American tradition of presidential doctrines, which included the Monroe Doctrine and Truman Doctrine before it.
The Eisenhower Doctrine, like all presidential doctrines, was non-binding, meaning that it was not a law. With that said, as the "commander in chief" of the armed forces, the American president has great latitude when it comes to foreign affairs and military intervention.
Middle East scholars believe that the Eisenhower Doctrine was primarily directed toward Egypt and its leader, Gamal Nasser. After he came to power in 1954, and especially after the Suez Canal Crisis, Nasser moved his country closer to the Soviet bloc.
Although not a communist, Nasser and his party, the Arab Socialist Union, was openly socialist, which many Americans of the time took as a variant of communism.
The United States applied the Eisenhower Doctrine militarily when it intervened in the 1958 Lebanon Crisis in order to prevent a socialist, pro-Nasser government from coming to power.
The United States codenamed its intervention in Lebanon Operation Blue Bat. Troops were sent in on July 15, 1958 and all were withdrawn by October 25.
The Eisenhower Doctrine was never again applied militarily after the Lebanon Crisis.
The Arab Socialist Union was part of a larger movement in the Arab speaking world from the 1950s through the 1970s known as Arab Socialism.
Many historians consider the Eisenhower Doctrine to be a corollary of Eisenhower's domino theory, which stated that communism should be faced head on in order to prevent nations from falling like dominos to communism.
Perhaps because of the importance of Islam in the region more so than the Eisenhower Doctrine, no Arab nation ever adopted a strictly Marxist-communist government.
Although Nasser eventually moved away from the Soviet Union, his influence in the rest of the Arab world grew after the Eisenhower Doctrine was announced. Under Nasser, and then Sadat, Egypt was involved in two wars against Israel in 1967 and 1973.
Although Eisenhower Doctrine lapsed after Eisenhower left office, American involvement in the region continued and even escalated. Post-Eisenhower American involvement in the Middle East centered more on support for Israel and oil interests than fighting communism.


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