Support Any Friend: Kennedy's Middle East and the Making of the U.S.-Israel Alliance

by Warren Bass

At the Cold War's height, John F. Kennedy set precedents that continue to shape America's encounter with the Middle East. Kennedy was the first president to make a major arms sale to Israel, the only president to push hard to deny Israel the atomic bomb, and the last president to reach out to the greatest champion of Arab nationalism, Egyptian President Jamal Abdul Nasser. Now Warren Bass takes readers inside the corridors of power to show how Kennedy's New Frontiersmen grappled with the Middle East. He explains why the fiery Nasser spurned Washington's overtures and stumbled into a Middle Eastern Vietnam. He shows how Israel persuaded the Kennedy administration to start arming the Jewish state. And he grippingly describes JFK's showdown with Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion over Israel's secret nuclear reactor. From the Oval Office to secret diplomatic missions to Cairo and Tel Aviv, Bass offers stunning new insights into the pivotal presidency that helped create the
U.S.-Israel alliance and the modern Middle East.

Genres: Middle East, Nonfiction

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

When did the US begin its special alliance with Israel and how did it come about? The answer can be found in Support Any Friend: Kennedy's Middle East and the Making of the U.S.-Israel Alliance by Warren Bass. Bass, who was later picked to work on the 9/11 Commission, reveals that Israel became a close ally of the US during the Kennedy Administration, when diplomatic overtures to Egypt never quite succeeded in forming a strong relationship with that country.

A brief history of the creation of the Jewish state and how it was viewed by Presidents Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower is summarized in Chapter One of this book. Then in the rest of the book Warren Bass brings to light all the behind the scenes diplomatic activities involving President Kennedy, Dean Rusk, McGeorge Bundy, Walt Rostow, David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Shimon Peres, Jamal Abd al-Nasser, Anwar al-Sadat, and a host of others during the 1961-1963 years of the Kennedy Administration. His extensive research of existing documents and interviews with people who participated in making the history of our Israel relationship impressively establishes that the Kennedy Administration was the first administration to veer away from a neutral approach to the Middle East. This occurred, according to Bass, because Egypt's Nasser rebuffed many diplomatic attempts to establish closer ties between Egypt and the United States, and came about despite Kennedy's growing concerns over Israel's project to build nuclear weapons at Dimona, a topic also covered in the book.

Anyone interested in how the US-Israel special relationship materialized would be well served in reading this book. It is an impressive and interesting study of the events that began the current US approach to Israel and the Middle East.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the start of the US Israel alliance though I would argue and I think this book actually inadvertently supports the idea that the alliance actually started under Johnson and not Kennedy

[Dyanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Insightful thesis about how the Kennedy administration's policies set in motion the strong US-Israeli relationship we know today. Bass discusses Kennedy's desire to pursue a middle ground in the Middle East, not wanting to take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but instead forced by circumstances in the region.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent piece of diplomatic history.