By the 1956 Suez War, what did Saudi Arabia represent to the U.S.?
Well, Saudi Arabia, during the Eisenhower administration, represented two things. One, oil. The importance of Saudi oil was already recognized. Production had not yet reached the levels it has now, but it was seen as the major oil producer, and as American oil reserves were being depleted, the increased reliance on Saudi oil, not only for the United States, but for its Western European and Japanese allies as well, that was always a part of every American position paper. The second thing in ’56 was the concern that with the Anglo-French defeat in the Suez War, a power vacuum was developing in the Gulf which the Soviets might seek to exploit. You must remember that during that entire long period of the Cold War, the worry in Washington was that the Soviets were seeking to move into the Middle East, and of course they had developed relationships with [Egyptian president Gamal Abd al-]Nasser, so that was a source of worry. The Eisenhower Doctrine was developed because the British were no l
