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List of contents
PART 1: AFTER KENNEDY (NOVEMBER 1963-JUNE 1964)
1. Prologue: Kennedy’s Men
2. Komer’s War
3. Nasser’s New Frontier
4. Weapons and Bases
5. Enter Britain
6. Badeau’s Final Mission
PART II: AFTER BADEAU (JUNE 1964-MARCH 1966)
7. Starting Over With/In Cairo
8. Two Summits
9. Communication Breakdown
10. Congress Reacts
11. Komer’s Gamble
12. Johnson’s Reluctance
13. Rusk Takes Over
14. The $37 Million
15. Another Long Summer
16. Komer’s Final Campaign
17. Sadat’s Visit
PART III: AFTER KOMER (MARCH 1966-MAY 1967)
18. Johnson’s Men
19. A New Policy
20. Nasser’s Last Stand
21. Cold Shoulders
22. U.S.-Egyptian Relations Unbound
23. Epilogue: Applied History
About the author
Gabriel Glickman is an Associate Fellow at Bar-Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. His research is focused on history and international relations. His writing has appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, The National Interest, The Jerusalem Post, and The Hill.
Summary
What happens to policies when a president dies in office? Do they get replaced by
the new president, or do advisers carry on with the status quo? In November 1963,
these were important questions for a Kennedy-turned-Johnson administration.
Among these officials was a driven National Security Council staffer named Robert
Komer, who had made it his personal mission to have the United States form better
relations with Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser after diplomatic relations were nearly
severed during the Eisenhower years. While Kennedy saw the benefit of having good,
personal relations with the most influential leader in the Middle East—believing
that it was the key to preventing a new front in the global Cold War—Johnson
did not share his predecessor’s enthusiasm for influencing Nasser with aid.
In US-Egypt Diplomacy under Johnson, Glickman brings to light the diplomatic
efforts of Komer, a masterful strategist at navigating the bureaucratic
process. Appealing to scholars of Middle Eastern history and US foreign
policy, the book reveals a new perspective on the path to a war that was
to change the face of the Middle East, and provides an important “applied
history” case study for policymakers on the limits of personal diplomacy.
Foreword
An analysis of US policy toward Egypt in the run up to the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
Additional text
“US-Egypt Diplomacy under Johnson is a well-researched and significant book which chronicles and analyzes how one government official, Robert Komer, shaped American-Egyptian diplomatic relations. For Komer, a grand strategy meant working with Nasser – in spite of ideological differences – to contain Soviet influence in the Middle East. This book is a must read for anyone wishing to understand how one individual greatly influenced diplomacy between Washington and Cairo from the Kennedy Administration to the Johnson Administration.”
