| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The sentiments of Truman's State Department toward the Middle East are well documented. Hugh Wilford's engaging new book convincingly explores similar sentiments in the early CIA. One of the most famous anecdotes of the Truman administration was first revealed by presidential adviser Clark Clifford in his memoirs. Secretary of State George Marshall and his undersecretary were called into the Oval Office to debate with Clifford the merits of recognizing Israel. After Clifford argued in favor of Israel, Marshall, whom Winston Churchill called the "Organizer of Victory" for his role as army secretary during World War II, made what Clifford called "the most remarkable threat I have ever heard anyone make directly to a president." Said Marshall to Truman: "If you follow Clifford's advice and if I were to vote in the election, I would vote against you. Marshall's stunning comment reflected the viewpoint of "almost every member of the brilliant and now legendary group of presidential advisers, later referred to as the Wise Men, who were then in the process of creating a postwar foreign policy that would endure for more than forty years," recalled Clifford. Those advisers included such luminaries as George Kennan, Dean Acheson, Dean Rusk, and Charles Bohlen. They were later dubbed the "Arabists" because they believed that the Arabs could be allied with America after World War II-and should be courted instead of Israel.
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