Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T08:41:45.820Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Internationalist Oilmen, the Middle East, and the Remaking of American Liberalism, 1945–1953

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2011

Nathan J. Citino
Nathan J. Citino
Affiliation:
Associate professor of history at Colorado State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The ways in which business–government relations influenced postwar liberalism in the American encounter with the Middle East are examined through the use of group biography. The linked careers of five internationalist oilmen who helped to formulate Harry S. Truman's domestic and foreign policies are tracked during and after World War II. Partly through the efforts of these influential men, the Middle East's vast oil resources became an important component of controversies about the direction of the New Deal. One conclusion to emerge from the study is that instead of simply studying liberal ideals in order to understand the American impulse to reform the world, historians also need to consider how global factors intruded into domestic reform debates.

Type
Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 84 , Issue 2: A Special Issue on the Oil Industry , Summer 2010 , pp. 227 - 251
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 E. L. DeGolyer to Richard Funkhouser, 5 Sept. 1950, folder 2387, box 2, Everette DeGolyer, Sr. papers, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Tex. [hereafter EDP].

2 DeGolyer, E. L., “Some Aspects of Oil in the Middle East,” in The Near East and the Great Powers, ed. Frye, Richard N. (Port Washington, N.Y., 1951), 134, 135.Google Scholar

3 See Levin, N. Gordon, Woodrow Wilson and World Politics: America's Response to War and Revolution (New York, 1968)Google Scholar ; and Packenham, Robert A., Liberal America and the Third World: Political Development Ideas in Foreign Aid and Social Science (Princeton, 1973)Google Scholar.

4 See Hogan, Michael J., Informal Entente: The Private Structure of Cooperation in A nglo-American EconomicDiplomacy, 1918–1928 (Columbia, Mo., 1977),Google Scholar and The Marshall Plan: America, Britain, and the Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1947–1952 (NewYork, 1987).Google Scholar See also Painter, David S., Oil and the American Century: The Political Economy of U.S. Foreign Oil Policy, 1941–1954 (Baltimore, 1986)Google Scholar.

5 Westad, Odd Arne, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (New York, 2005), 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar See also Gilman, Nils, Mandarins of the Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America (Baltimore, 2003)Google Scholar.

6 See Bell, Jonathan, The Liberal State on Trial: The Cold War and American Politics in the Truman Years (New York, 2004)CrossRefGoogle Scholar ; and Collins, Robert M., More: The Politics of Economic Growth in Postwar America (New York, 2000)Google Scholar.

7 Yergin, Daniel, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (New York, 1991), 276–77.Google Scholar

8 See Cohen, Lizabeth, A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (New York, 2003)Google Scholar.

9 See Rivas, Darlene, Missionary Capitalist: Nelson Rockefeller in Venezuela (Chapel Hill, 2002)Google Scholar ; and Vitalis, Robert, America's Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier(Stanford, 2007)Google Scholar.

10 See Heiss, Mary Ann, Empire and Nationhood: The United States, Great Britain, and Iranian Oil,1950–1954 (New York, 1997), 152–58Google Scholar ; and Marsh, Steve, Anglo-American Relations and Cold War Oil: Crisis in Iran (New York, 2003), 131–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 See Karl, Terry Lynn, The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-States (Berkeley, 1997)Google Scholar ; and Humphreys, Macartan et al. , eds., Escaping the Resource Curse (New York, 2007).Google Scholar

12 “As Oil Consultant, He's Without Like or Equal,” New York Times, 27 July 1969, 14(F).Google Scholar

13 “Oil Resources: The Oil Fields of the Middle East,” folder 2348, box 20, EDP.

14 Max Ball to DeGolyer, 27 Aug. 1952, folder 5044, box 97, EDP.

15 James Terry Duce to DeGolyer, 29 Apr. 1941, folder 360, box 4, EDP.

16 Golyer to Ralph Davies, 15 Aug. 1941, folder 3561, box 57, EDP.

17 DeGolyer to Allen, 26 Mar. 1942, folder 3535, box 56, EDP. See also DeGolyer to Davies, 23 Jan. 1943, folder 3409, box 50, EDP.

18 Handwritten memo by DeGolyer, n.d., folder 3556, box 56, EDP.

19 Memo of Petroleum Board meeting, 8 June 1943, folder 3423, box 51, EDP.

20 DeGolyer to Holley Poe, 11 Nov. 1943, folder 3556, box 56, EDP. See also Anderson, Irvine, Aramco, the United States, and Saudi Arabia: A Study of the Dynamics of Foreign Oil Policy, 1933–1950 (Princeton, 1981)Google Scholar.

21 “Preliminary Report of the Technical Oil Mission to the Middle East,” 1 Feb. 1944, folder 3459, box 52, EDP.

22 “Maloney to Head Senate Oil Study,” New York Times, 24 Mar. 1944, 11.

23 See undated memo by DeGolyer cited in note 18.

24 Memo by DeGolyer, 17 Sept. 1946, folder 3680, box 61, EDP.

25 DeGolyer's notes found with letter from Arthur Hill to DeGolyer, 20 July 1948, folder 3526, box 56, EDP.

26 U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Armed Services, Subcommittee on Petroleum, Hearings, Petroleum for National Defense, 80th Cong., 2nd sess., 6 Feb. 1948, 371.

27 See memo of Petroleum Board meeting, cited above.

28 See Williamson, Harold F. et al. , The American Petroleum Industry, vol. 2: The Age of Energy,1899–1959 (Evanston, Ill., 1963), 796, 810Google Scholar.

29 See Hawley, Ellis W., The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly: A Study in Economic Ambivalence (Princeton, 1966)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Rostow, Eugene V., A National Policy for the Oil Industry (New Haven, 1948)Google Scholar.

30 U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hearings, United States Foreign Policy for a Postwar Recovery Program, 80th Cong., 2nd sess., 24 Feb. 1948, 1586, 1594, 1595.

31 Petroleum for National Defense, 11 Mar. 1948, 759, 769.

32 Council of Economic Advisors to Truman, 17 Dec. 1946, Special Report to the President—State of the Economy, p. 2, box 2, Leon H. Keyserling papers, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library, Independence, Mo. [HSTL]; and Council of Economic Advisors to Truman, 30 Sept. 1947, Quarterly Report to the President—Third Quarter, 1947, p. 8, box 2, Keyserling papers, HSTL.

33 Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Truman, Harry S., 1947(Washington, D.C., 1963), 494, 496.Google Scholar See also Jacobs, Meg, Pocketbook Politics: Economic Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America (Princeton, 2005), 221–45Google Scholar.

34 Minutes, Technical Committee on Petroleum, 17 Oct. 1946, p. 4, TPC meeting minutes, box 8, Records of Interdepartmental and Intradepartmental Committees (State Department), Task Forces Working Groups and Boards, 1942–1959, lot fi les 52D 330 S/S-S, record group [RG]353, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Md. [NARA]

35 “Effect of Imports on Foreign Oil in the Domestic Independent Producers,” 30 Nov. 1949, p. 6, folder 24, box 1, Walter Levy Papers, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyo. [WLP].

36 See “Statement before the National Petroleum Council, October 21, 1948,” folder 15, box 1, WLP; and “Preliminary Report on Prices Paid in ECA-Financed Petroleum Transactions,” 24 Oct. 1949, folder 4, box 22, WLP.

37 Levy to Bissell, 19 May 1948, and attached memo, “Export Pricing Policy of the Oil Industry,” folder 6, box 21, WLP.

38 Levy to Hoffman, 14 Sept. 1948, folder 6, box 21, WLP.

39 Transcript, Economic Cooperation Administration Oil Price Advisory Committee, 1 Nov. 1949, p. 7, folder 3, box 22, WLP.

40 “Middle East Crude Oil,” 23 Mar. 1949, p. 107, folder 4, box 22, WLP. See also Painter, David, “Oil and the Marshall Plan,” Business History Review 58 (Autumn 1984): 367Google Scholar.

41 Memo to Charles Kindleberger, 2 Oct. 1947, folder: European Areas, 1945–1947, box 12, Records of the Petroleum Division, Country File, 1940–1947, RG 59, NARA.

42 Transcript, “Middle East Oil Policy,” 4 Mar. 1949, p. 14, folder 2, box 22, WLP.

43 Entry for 23 Mar. 1949, Diary 1949, box 2, Max Ball papers [MBP], HSTL.

44 “Middle East Crude Oil,” 23 Mar. 1949, p. 6, folder 4, box 22, WLP. See diary entry for 14 Apr. 1949, Diary 1949, MBP.

45 Entry for 18 Nov. 1947, Diary Sept. 18–Dec. 31, 1947, box 1, MBP.

46 See entries for 16 Oct. and 11 Dec. 1947, Diary, Sept. 18–Dec. 31, 1947, box 1, MBP.

47 “‘Planned Economy’ Assailed by Taft,” New York Times, 25 Nov. 1947, 1; “‘Spend Less’ Plan Advanced by Taft,” New York Times, 2 Dec. 1947, 7.

48 See Taft's speech “Inflation and the Marshall Plan,” 30 Dec. 1947, in The Papers of Robert A. Taft, vol. 3, 1945–1948, ed. Wunderlin, Clarence E. Jr. et al. (Kent, Oh, 2003), 354–63Google Scholar; and “Truman Activates Republicans' Law to Curb Inflation,” New York Times, 4 Jan. 1948, 1. See also entries for 11 and 15 Oct. 1948, Diary, July 1–Dec. 31, 1948, box 2, MBP.

49 Entry for 8 Jan. 1948, Diary, Jan. 1–June 30, 1948, box 1, MBP.

50 Jacobs, Pocketbook Politics, 238. See also C. Girard Davidson, Oral History Interview, pp. 61–64, HSTL; and Collins, More, 38.

51 See diary entry for 8 Jan. cited in note 49.

52 Entry for 15 Nov. 1948, Diary, July 1–Dec. 31, 1948, box 2, MBP.Google Scholar

53 Entry for 28 Apr. 1949, Diary 1949, box 2, MBP. See National Petroleum Council, A National Oil Policy for the United States: A Report of the National Petroleum Council (Washington, D.C., 1949).Google Scholar

54 See Kaufman, Burton I., The Oil Cartel Case: A Documentary Study of Antitrust Activity in the Cold War Era (Westport, Conn., 1978), 29.Google Scholar

55 Entry for 1 Oct. 1947, Diary, Sept. 18–Dec. 31, 1947, box 1, MBP. See also entry for 12 Nov. 1947, Diary, Sept. 18–Dec. 31, 1947, box 1, MBP.Google Scholar

56 Petroleum for National Defense, 28 Jan. 1948, 107.Google Scholar

57 U.S. Congress, Senate, Special Committee to Study Problems of American Small Business, Hearings, vol. 5, part 21: Oil Supply and Distribution Problems, 80th Cong., 1st sess., 15 Oct. 1947, 2316, 2332.Google Scholar

58 See U.S. Congress, House, Select Committee on Small Business, Hearings, Effects of Foreign Oil Imports on Independent Domestic Producers, 81st Cong., 1st sess., 25 May 1949, 13, 16–17.Google Scholar

59 White House Staff memo, n.d., folder: OF 56 (1949–1950), box 334, Official File, White House Central Files, 1945–1953, Harry S. Truman Papers, HSTL. See also “A Study of Liquid Fuels for National Security,” folder: 463.7 National Liquid Fuels Policy, box 41, National Security Resources Board, Security-Classified General Correspondence, July 1949–Apr. 1953, RG 304, NARA.

60 Entry for 6 Mar. 1950, Diary 1950, box 2, MBP.Google Scholar

61 See , Anderson, Aramco, the United States, and Saudi Arabia, 72–73.Google Scholar

62 See Vitalis, America's Kingdom, 88–90, 103–6, 108–10, 121. See also “Duce, James Terry,” folder 17, box 1, William E. Mulligan Papers, Lauinger Library, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar

63 See entry for 4 Nov. 1949, Diary 1949, box 2, MBP.Google Scholar

64 Petroleum for National Defense 2 Feb. 1948, 215, 213.

65 U.S. Congress, House, Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee, Hearings, Fuel Investigation, 80th Cong., 1st sess., Part 1, 30 Jan. 1948, 252; and quotation cited in Anderson, Aramco, the United States, and Saudi Arabia, 177.

66 Memo of conversation by Awalt, 26 Oct. 1950, Foreign Relations of the United States[FRUS], 1950, vol. 5: The Near East, South Asia, and Africa (Washington, D.C., 1978), 104Google Scholar.

67 Memo of conversation by Funkhouser, 6 Nov. 1950, FRUS 1950, 5: 106–9.

68 Memo of conversation by Sturgill, Robert, 20 June 1952, FRUS 1952–1954, vol. 9: The Near and Middle East (Washington, D.C., 1986), 603–4Google Scholar.

69 Entry for 4 Nov. 1949, Diary 1949, box 2, MBP.

70 Entry for 26 May 1950, Diary 1950, box 2, MBP.

71 See entries for 23–24 Mar., 4–6 Apr., 24 June, 13 July, and 23 Oct. 1949, Diary 1949, box 2, MBP.

72 DeGolyer to Robert Eakens, 29 Aug. 1947, folder 3682, box 61, EDP.

73 See boxes 2–4, MBP.

74 See Rostow, W. W., The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto (Cambridge, U.K., 1960), 21–22.Google Scholar

75 See memo of telephone call, 2 June 1947, folder 2348, box 20, EDP.

76 DeGolyer to Eakens, cited in note 72.

77 Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Truman, Harry S., 1949 (Washington, D.C., 1964), 114–15.Google Scholar

78 See “Capital Investment Aspects of Point Four,” 7 June 1949, p. 16, folder: Point Four Program, box 9, Keyserling papers; and chapter 4, “Ideas into Action,” p. 165, folder: Manuscript, “Point IV: Dynamic Democracy” [2], box 1, Benjamin Hardy Papers, HSTL.

79 Funkhouser to DeGolyer, 21 July 1950, folder 2387, box 22, EDP.

80 Frye, ed., The Near East and the Great Powers, 55.

81 “The Oil Problem in the Middle East,” State Department Bulletin 25 (15 Oct. 1951): 614.

82 Eddy, William A. to Eddy, Mary, 16 Aug. 1951, folder 4, box 6, Eddy, William A. papers, Seeley Library, G. Mudd, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar

83 Address by Duce, 25 Sept. 1952, folder 360, box 4, EDP.

84 See entries for 19 and 21 July 1949, Diary 1949, box 2, MBP.

85 McGhee, George C., Envoy to the Middle World: Adventures in Diplomacy (New York, 1969), 192.Google Scholar

86 McGhee to Dean Acheson, 7 June 1950, FRUS, 1950, 5: 169. See also McGhee to Truman, 28 Aug. 1950, ibid., 178–80.

87 See Bamberg, James H., The History of the British Petroleum Company, vol. 2: The Anglo-Iranian Years, 1928–1954 (Cambridge, U.K., 1994).Google Scholar

88 See ibid., 402.

89 See ibid., 86–94, 408.

90 U.S. Congress, House, Committee on Foreign Affairs, Selected Executive Session Hearings of the Committee, 1951–56, vol. 16: The Middle East, Africa, and Inter-American Affairs (Washington, D.C., 1980), 30, 62, 220, 221.

91 Memo of conversation by Funkhouser, 14 May 1951, FRUS, 1951, vol. 5: The Near East and Africa (Washington, D.C., 1982), 309.

92 Walter Levy to Muhammad Nemazee, 21 Feb. 1951, folder 3, box 15, WLP.

93 Averell Harriman to Department of State, 17 July 1951, FRUS, 1952–1954, vol. 10: Iran (Washington, D.C., 1989), 93.

94 See memos by Vernon Walters, 9 and 28 Oct. 1951, ibid., 213–18, 244–49. See also , McGhee, Envoy to the Middle World, 388–404Google Scholar.

95 See memo by Henry Byroade of telephone conversation between Acheson and Truman, 31 July 1952, FRUS, 1952–1954, 10:428; Heiss, Empire and Nationhood, 137; and Marsh, Anglo-American Relations and Cold War Oil, 117.

96 U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations, Hearings, Multinational Petroleum Companies and Foreign Policy, 93rd Cong., 2nd sess., Part 4, 28 Jan. 1974, 86.

97 Memo of conversation by Paul Nitze, 19 Sept. 1952, FRUS, 1952–1954, 9: 611, 612.

98 See , Heiss, Empire and Nationhood, 154.Google Scholar

99 Memo of conversation by Harold Linder, 29 Oct. 1952, FRUS, 1952–1954, 9: 616–17.

100 Duce to Oscar Chapman with attachments, 23 Oct. 1952, Correspondence, Nov. 1949– Jan. 1953, DR to DY, box 44, Oscar L. Chapman papers, HSTL. Thanks to Erica Flanagan for finding this source.

101 See Annex I to memo by Linder, Harold, 16 Dec. 1952, FRUS 1952–1954, vol. 1: General: Economic and Political Matters (Washington, D.C., 1983), 1289–93Google Scholar.

102 Memo of discussion at the 127th Meeting of the National Security Council, 17 Dec. 1952, FRUS, 1952–1954, vol. 1: General: Economic and Political Matters (Washington, D.C., 1983), 1299, 1301.

103 Entry for 29 Jan. 1951, Diary 1951, box 3, MBP.

104 The President's Materials Policy Commission, Resources for Freedom, vol. 2: The Outlook for Energy Sources (Washington, D.C., 1952), 14.Google Scholar

105 See Kaufman, Oil Cartel Case, 46–47.

106 See FRUS, 1952–1954, 10: 901–13.

107 Reprinted in Kaufman, Oil Cartel Case, 149, 153.

108 Levy, Walter, “Oil Power,” Foreign Affairs 49 (July 1971): 661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar