This episode discusses the Johnson administration’s policy in the weeks leading up to the 1967 Six Day War. As that conflict drew near, two Israeli missions to the United States, led by Abba Eban and Meir Amit, encountered the same official focus on Vietnam, yet produced different results by asking different questions. In that sense, 1967 was a major turning point not only in Israel’s history, but also in the history of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Host David Makovsky discusses this major decision point with William Quandt, who served with the National Security Council during the Nixon and Carter administrations and took part in the U.S. negotiating team for the Camp David Accords and Egypt-Israel peace treaty in the late 1970s. A longtime professor at the University of Virginia, he has authored several books on U.S. Middle East policy, including Decade of Decision: American Policy Toward the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1967-76.

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This episode focuses on one of the lowest points in the U.S.-Israel relationship: the 1956 Suez Crisis. At the time, President Eisenhower felt betrayed by Israel, France, and Britain for initiating war after Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal. The episode highlights ties with allies alongside his desire to win support for Arab nationalist champion Gamal Abdul Nasser, the Egyptian leader whom the White House hoped in vain would be a bulwark against the Soviets in the Cold War. How did Eisenhower balance these conflicting impulses? What impact did his decisions have on the future of Nasserism, U.S.-Israel relations, and the American role in the Middle East? What was Eisenhower’s dramatic gamble?

Host David Makovsky discusses these and other questions with Michael Doran, a former Princeton University professor, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, and author of Ike’s Gamble: America’s Rise to Dominance in the Middle East.

Audio Clips Used:

"1956 - Suez Crisis"

"U.N. Meeting on Suez Canal and Israel - Egyptian War Reel 1 (1956)" - British Pathé

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This episode will focus on the moment when Britain was about to depart Mandatory Palestine and there was heightened uncertainty about whether the State of Israel would be formed. The episode highlights the battle between the personalities and policy differences of President Harry Truman and his advisors, and chronicles America’s dramatic path to recognizing the Jewish State.

Host David Makovsky will be in conversation with Ronald Radosh, co-author of one of the preeminent books on Truman and 1948, A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel.

Audio Clips Used

"FDR Dies 450412 News Clip 01, Old Time Radio"

"President Roosevelt Meets Middle East Leaders [Etc.]

"Last British Troops Leave Palestine - 1948"

70th Anniversary of UN Partition Plan Vote

At War with the Experts [CSPAN]

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In this episode, we will discuss the United States’ little-known role in the Balfour Declaration, and the influence and prominence starting as early as America's founding fathers of the idea of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

Host David Makovsky will be in conversation with Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States and a former member of Knesset. Oren received his doctorate in Near East Studies at Princeton University. His book, Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East from 1776 to the Present, provides a comprehensive overview of the United States’ involvement in the region from its very first days. 

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We cannot fully appreciate the special bond between the U.S. and Israel without first understanding the highs and lows of this relationship over the past 70 years—how Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion believed it was possible that there would be a U.S. military strike against Israel; how the U.S. came to occupy such a central role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process; or what the internal debate in the U.S. government looked like at the time of the Suez Crisis, the Six-Day War, or the Yom Kippur War.

Regardless of your familiarity with Israeli history, each episode of "Decision Points: The U.S.-Israel Relationship" will give you the background you need before moving into an interview that will illuminate the key debates at the time.

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