“Arabian Knight: Colonel Bill Eddy USMC and the Rise of American Power in the Middle East”
Event Featuring:
Overview
Colonel Bill Eddy played a large role in the development of U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia. Thomas W. Lippman examines the eventful life Eddy lived as a diplomat, soldier, scholar, and spy in his new book, “Arabian Knight: Colonel Bill Eddy USMC and the Rise of American Power in the Middle East.” Lippman uses the Colonel’s life to explore and chronicle past events that helped shape current U.S. policy in the Middle East.
Event Summary
Lippman began his discussion of the book with a question about US policy in the Middle East: “How did this get to be our problem?” In an effort to answer this question Lippman identified key moments in Colonel Eddy’s life that can shed light on the nature of U.S. relations with the Middle East, especially Saudi Arabia.
Lippman started his account of Colonel Eddy’s life with his birth and education. Eddy was born in Lebanon in 1896 to Protestant missionaries, and Lippman suggests it was assumed that the young man would pursue a life of academia or military service. Eddy graduated from Princeton in 1917 and received a direct commission to the United States Marine Corps as an intelligence officer. Following harrowing experiences on the battlefield during World War I, Captain Eddy returned to the U.S. and received his Ph.D, also from Princeton University.
Lippman explained that the next few years of Eddy’s life consisted of a few professorships, and the position of President of Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y. Realizing his distaste for academic politics and noticing the signs of the imminent Second World War, Eddy returned to his uniform and active duty in Cairo. After three months of service, Eddy was called back to Washington by President Roosevelt, where he was instrumental in the development of the OSS, the precursor to the CIA.
Eddy’s close friendship with ‘Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, the founding king of Saudi Arabia, and his ability to gain the esteem of the leaders of the Arab world, aided the U.S. in maintaining and building relations within the Middle East. This influential role allowed Colonel Eddy to lay the groundwork for U.S.-Arab oil trade, the Trans Arabian Pipeline, and the beginnings of diplomatic relations with Yemen. Lippman’s candid account of the Colonel’s handiwork included the mention of his instrumental role in the creation of the CIA as a member of the Interagency Committee of 1947. Eddy eventually resigned from service due to his wife’s illness, but some suggest that his distress over President Truman’s view on Palestine and Zionism may have influenced his decision.
Lippman concluded the discussion by expressing Eddy’s inability to reconcile himself with the creation of Israel. Lippman also spoke about Eddy’s efforts to enlist others in his cause, as he felt the relations he had worked so hard to build between the Arab people and the United States were slowly disintegrating.
About this Event
This book launch event took place in the Middle East Institute's Boardman Room on September 15th, 2008.
Speaker Details
Thomas W. Lippman is an Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute as well as the former Middle East Correspondent and a former diplomatic and national security reporter for The Washington Post (1966-1999, 2003). He has also written on these subjects for several magazines, including the The Middle East Journal, SAIS Review and US News and World Report. Lippman is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Attributions
This event summary was written by Julia R. Arrington, a MA student at London Metropolitan University in London and currently an intern with the Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center at the Middle East Institute. This piece was edited by Justin M Keyes, a Senior at American University’s School of International Service in Washington DC. Justin is currently a Programs Intern at the Middle East Institute.
