The American University of Beirut and University of Tehran Seminar on the United States and the Middle East
On May 14, 2009, a group of graduate students and faculty from the North American Studies program at the University of Tehran visited AUB to interact with a similar group of AUB grad students and faculty. The discussions included presentation of graduate student research and discussions of shared readings about American Studies in the Middle East. A follow-up seminar in Tehran is planned for the 2009-2010 year.
Workshop by Dr. Irene Gendzier
The Promise and the Limits of Research into Official Government SourcesA workshop presented by Dr. Irene Gendzier on May 22, 2009.
The workshop provided details on how to use the massive U.S. archives for research into U.S. foreign policy and actions. It was intended for graduate students and other researchers who want to learn how to take advantage of this underutilized source of information which is now available online and in published form. Dr. Gendzier has been using these documents herself for a recent project on the foundations of postwar U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, 1945-1949.
Irene Gendzier is a Professor of Political Science at Boston University. She is the author of many articles and books including Notes From the Minefield: United States Intervention in Lebanon and the Middle East, 1945-1958; Development Against Democracy; Frantz Fanon: A Critical Study; and she co-edited the volume Crimes of War: Iraq with Richard Falk and Robert Lifton.
Report on Dr. Irene Gendzier's Suggestions on Using the U.S. Archives for Middle Eastern Research
(Compiled by Patrick McGreevy with help from Nate George)
On May 22, 2009, Dr. Irene Gendzier of Boston University presented a special workshop for AUB graduate students and faculty. The following is a synopsis of her suggestions.
Dr. Gendzier began by noting how neglect of the available archival information has led historians and other experts to assume that Middle Eastern resources had nothing to do with post-World War II planning. In fact the oil that ARAMCO was securing in Saudi Arabia was largely intended for the Marshall Plan--project of rebuilding Europe. She also noted that in order to evaluate the accuracy of information in the U.S. Archives, one needs to compare other sources. She mentioned that there is a new NGO that works to make public personal archives.
Dr. Genzier made the following specific suggestions:
"Foreign Relations of the United States" (media and other sources, required that you know what you are looking for to some extent)
"National Security Archives" (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/)(George Washington University). Takes advantage of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which makes many documents available to the public after a period of 30 years. One can look under "News" to see latest releases, or under "Documents" and several other categories.
"Center for Public Integrity" (http://www.publicintegrity.org/) (another watchdog organization that uses FOIA releases).
"Judicial Watch" (http://www.judicialwatch.org/) (still another watchdog that focuses on legal issues historically).
"Council on Foreign Relations" (http://www.cfr.org/)(established to provide information to the Department of State). It contains a great deal of information on U.S. post-war planning and Middle East oil. One important section is called "Series on American Studies, 1933-1945." Contains interesting information about corporate interest in the expansion of U.S. bases, especially the aviation industry.
"Foreign Relations of the United States" (Department of State). This is entirely available on the web but can be unwieldy to use. In the early period, the Middle East is listed as "Near East." Both the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency were created in 1947. Discussions about labor strikes in Saudi Arabia and the subsequent importation of docile workers.
"Department of State Bulletin" contains regular summaries of all activities.
"House and senate Hearings" (These are on the Library of Congress website) For example, the "Committee of the Foreign Relations of the United States" has a document on the history of the oil companies).
Presidential Libraries (Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, etc.)
Papers of diplomats in libraries (Princeton has Dulles and Atchison, for example, but not on the web).
"University Publications of America" (a microfilm or microfiche source). This has intelligence reports. Listed by RG (Record Group) for each agency--State Department, for instance, is RG59.
"Institute of Southern Studies" (Chris Kromm)
"British Foreign Office"
Military journals
Finally, Dr. Gendzier suggested that much insight could be gained by a group working as a team in different archives in different languages.