US-Egypt Diplomacy under Johnson

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.