The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power

by Daniel Yergin

In May, Henry Kissinger was able to secure the Syrian-Israeli disengagement, and a peace process seemed to have begun. In June, Richard Nixon made a visit to Israel, Egypt, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. The embargo was now history, albeit very recent history, at least insofar as the United States was concerned. (It was still in place against the Netherlands.) The United States could rightly claim the beginnings of some considerable results in Middle Eastern diplomacy. Watergate, however, was an ever-present reality, and Nixon’s behavior on the trip struck some as stark. Sitting with the Israeli Cabinet in Tel Aviv, he suddenly announced that he knew the best way to deal with terrorists. He sprang to his feet and, with an imaginary submachine gun in his hand, pretended to gun down the entire Cabinet, Chicago style, making a “brrrrr” sound as he did so. The Israelis were perplexed and a little concerned. In Damascus, Nixon told Syria’s Assad that the Israelis should be pushed back until they fell off the cliff, and to underscore the point, he made strange, chopping gestures. Thereafter, in subsequent meetings with other Americans, Assad would insist on recalling Nixon’s exposition. But it was in Egypt that Nixon had his great moment. His days there could only have been called triumphal. Millions of enthusiastic, delirious Egyptians turned out to cheer. It was truly his last hurrah. There was much there for savorers of irony. After all, this was the land of Gamal Abdel Nasser, who...