UC Irvine UC Irvine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title The Petrodollar Era and Relations between the United States and the Middle East and North Africa, 1969-1980 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9m52q2hk Author Wight, David M. Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERISITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE The Petrodollar Era and Relations between the United States and the Middle East and North Africa, 1969-1980 DISSERTATION submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in History by David M. Wight Dissertation Committee: Professor Emily S. Rosenberg, chair Professor Mark LeVine Associate Professor Salim Yaqub 2014 © 2014 David M. Wight DEDICATION To Michelle ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES iv LIST OF TABLES v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vi CURRICULUM VITAE vii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION x INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1: The Road to the Oil Shock 14 CHAPTER 2: Structuring Petrodollar Flows 78 CHAPTER 3: Visions of Petrodollar Promise and Peril 127 CHAPTER 4: The Triangle to the Nile 189 CHAPTER 5: The Carter Administration and the Petrodollar-Arms Complex 231 CONCLUSION 277 BIBLIOGRAPHY 287 iii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1.1 Sectors of the MENA as Percentage of World GNI, 1970-1977 19 Figure 1.2 Selected Countries as Percentage of World GNI, 1970-1977 20 Figure 1.3 Current Account Balances of the Non-Communist World, 1970-1977 22 Figure 1.4 Value of US Exports to the MENA, 1946-1977 24 Figure 5.1 US Military Sales Agreements per Fiscal Year, 1970-1980 255 iv LIST OF TABLES Page Table 2.1 Net Change in Deployment of OPEC’s Capital Surplus, 1974-1976 120 Table 5.1 US Military Sales Agreements per Fiscal Year, 1970-1980 256 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is a cliché that one accumulates countless debts while writing a monograph, but in researching and writing this dissertation I have come to learn the depth of the truth of this statement. This dissertation would not have been possible without the support of many people. I doubt I can ever adequately repay many of you, but I want you to know how grateful I am. First and foremost, I want to thank my advisor, Emily Rosenberg, for surpassing every expectation I could hope for in a mentor. Your endless supply of support, insights, and critiques has deeply informed this dissertation and my development as a scholar. Every time we talk, I learn something new and my excitement for history is reaffirmed. I also want to thank my two other dissertation committee members. Salim Yaqub, you have supported me since I was an undergraduate, and without your confidence and help I might not have pursued graduate school. I am extremely grateful for your continued assistance and many close readings of my writings over the years. Mark LeVine, you have likewise provided valuable feedback and perspective. I am particularly glad you pushed me to explore more of the Middle East, both in my research and in my travels. I am also indebted to the larger academic community in which I have worked. The instructors, colleagues, and administrative staff at the Department of History at the University of California Irvine (UCI) have all immeasurably enriched my dissertation and my life. Thank you for the many intellectual, pedagogical, and random conversations that we have shared. I also need to express my appreciation to the Department of History at the University of California Santa Barbara for providing the foundation of my academic career. This dissertation has also benefitted from the suggestions and feedback of fellow participants in various conferences and seminars. Special mention is due to Jennifer Graham Staver for generously providing me an entire research subtopic and a cache of documents; Thomas Borstelmann, Daniel Sargent, Thomas Sizgorich, and Thomas Zeiler for reading and proving feedback on portions of my writing; and Amina Yassine for looking over my translation of Arabic language sources. The research and writing of this dissertation would not have been possible without the generous financial support of several awards: The UCI School of Humanities Chancellor’s Fellowship, UCI Humanities Center Research Grant, UCI International Center for Writing and Translation Graduate Student Summer International Travel Research Grant, Gerald R. Ford Foundation Research Travel Grant, Kugelman Research Fellowship from the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) Samuel Flagg Bemis Dissertation Fellowship, and SHAFR Dissertation Completion Fellowship. Thank you to the many archivists that provided invaluable assistance to me during my research. The countless people who extended their welcome or a friendly conversation while I travelled for research have my heartfelt thanks as well. To all of my family and friends, thank you for your support and for providing much needed breaks from the dissertation process. I would like to make a special note of thanks to my family in Lebanon and the American Research Center in Egypt for their exceptional hospitality. I owe my parents immeasurably for all of the love, education, support, and opportunities they have provided me. Finally, I give thanks to my wife and best friend, Michelle Rifi. You invested and sacrificed more for me and this project than anyone. I am so grateful for all of your love and support. vi CURRICULUM VITAE EDUCATION PhD in History University of California, Irvine (UCI), June 2014 Dissertation: “The Petrodollar Era and the Foreign Relations of the United States and the Middle East and North Africa, 1969-1980” MA in History UCI, December 2010 BA in History, Minor in English University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), June 2007 PUBLICATIONS “Kissinger’s Levantine Dilemma: The Ford Administration and the Syrian Occupation of Lebanon” in Diplomatic History 37, no. 1 (2013): 144-177. “Government Intervention: Trust-Busting to the Federal Reserve System (1900-1920s)” in Guide to U.S. Economic Policy, eds. Robert E. Wright and Thomas Zeiler (Los Angeles: CQ Press, Forthcoming). FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS UCI School of Humanities Conference Travel Grant (2013) Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2012-2013) Kugelman Research Fellowship from the Center for Citizen Peacebuilding (2012) UCI International Center for Writing and Translation Graduate Student Summer International Travel Research Grant (2012) SHAFR Samuel Flagg Bemis Dissertation Fellowship (2012) UCI Humanities Center Research Grant (2011) Passed qualifying examination to become ABD in History at UCI with Distinction (2011) Gerald R. Ford Foundation Research Travel Grant (2011) UCI Humanities Summer Language Study Fellowship (2009) UCI School of Humanities Chancellor’s Fellowship (2008-2013) Graduated from UCSB with Highest Honors (2007) Awarded Distinction in Major of History at UCSB (2007) Graduated with “College Honors,” by the College of Letters and Science at UCSB (2007) History Department Senior Honors Thesis Award (2007) Stuart L. Bernath Prize for the Academic Year (2007) History Associates’ Board Prize for the Academic Year (2007) UCSB Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Grant (2006) vii PRESENTATIONS “Discussing Idaho Potatoes with the Shah: The Efforts of US Local Governments to Attract Petrodollars in the 1970s,” Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, April 12, 2014. “Petrodollar Promise and Peril: The Middle East Economy and Changing American Conceptions of Power in the 1970s,” SHAFR Annual Meeting, Arlington, VA, June 22, 2013. “‘A Klondike without Ice’: American Businesses, Petrodollars, and the Middle East and North Africa in the 1970s,” Berkeley International and Global History (Big-H) Graduate Student Conference, Berkeley, CA, March 16, 2013. “Analyzing Propaganda Posters & Films from WWII,” Guest Lecture for course History 40C: The Formation of American Society: The Twentieth-Century at UCI, Irvine, CA, April 29, 2011. “The Politics of Oil and U.S. Power in the 1970s,” Guest Lecture for course History 158A: U.S. as a Global Power at UCI, Irvine, CA, February 10, 2011. “Kissinger’s Levantine Dilemma: The Ford Administration and the Syrian Occupation of Lebanon,” California World History Association Meeting, Riverside, CA, October 17, 2009. “The Contestation of Henry Kissinger,” UCI Humanities Graduate Student Association’s “Under Construction: History Working Papers Conference,” Irvine, CA, May 16, 2009. Senior Honors Thesis Findings Presentation, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA, May 18, 2007. Undergraduate Research Colloquium Poster Presentation for Senior Honors Thesis Findings, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA, May 17, 2007. TEACHING EXPERIENCE Course Instructor at University of California, Irvine History 21B: World History: 1650-1870, Summer Session I 2013, Summer Session I 2014 Teaching Assistant at University of California, Irvine History 21A: World History: Beginnings-1650, Fall 2013 History 40A: The Formation of American Society: 1492-1790, Fall 2009, Fall 2010 History 40B: The Formation of American Society: The Nineteenth Century, Winter 2010 History 40C: The Formation of American Society: The Twentieth-Century, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2014 History 142B: American Politics, FDR to Obama, Winter 2014 History 158A: U.S. as a Global Power, Winter 2011 NON-ENGLISH RESEARCH LANGUAGES Arabic viii PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS American Historical Association American Research Center in