Kings and Presidents: Saudi Arabia and the United States since FDR

by Bruce Riedel

Overview

An insider's account of the often-fraught U.S.-Saudi relationship

Saudi Arabia and the United States have been partners since 1943, when President Roosevelt met with two future Saudi monarchs. Subsequent U.S. presidents have had direct relationships with those kings and their successors—setting the tone for a special partnership between an absolute monarchy with a unique Islamic identity and the world's most powerful democracy.

Although based in large part on economic interests, the U.S.-Saudi relationship has rarely been smooth. Differences over Israel have caused friction since the early days, and ambiguities about Saudi involvement—or lack of it—in the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States continue to haunt the relationship. Now, both countries have new, still-to be-tested leaders in President Trump and King Salman.

Bruce Riedel for decades has followed these kings and presidents during his career at the CIA, the White House, and Brookings. This book offers an insider's account of the U.S.-Saudi relationship, with unique insights. Using declassified documents, memoirs by both Saudis and Americans, and eyewitness accounts, this book takes the reader inside the royal palaces, the holy cities, and the White House to gain an understanding of this complex partnership.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815731375
Publisher:	Brookings Institution Press
Publication date:	11/21/2017
Series:	Geopolitics in the 21st Century Series
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Bruce Riedel is a senior fellow and director of the Brookings Intelligence Project, part of the Brookings Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence. In addition, Riedel serves as a senior fellow in the Center for Middle East Policy. He retired in 2006 after 30 years of service at the Central Intelligence Agency, including postings overseas. He was a senior advisor on South Asia and the Middle East to the last four presidents of the United States in the staff of the National Security Council at the White House. He was also deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Near East and South Asia at the Pentagon and a senior advisor at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels.

Table of Contents

Contents

Prologue

1. FDR and Ibn Saud, 1744 to 1953

2. Faisal, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, 1953 to 1975

3. Khalid and Carter, 1975 to 1982 57

4. Fahd, Reagan, and Bush, 1982 to 1992

5. Abdallah, Clinton, and Bush, 1993 to 2008

6. Obama and Trump, Abdallah and Salman, 2009 to 2017

7. Whither Saudi Arabia

Appendix: The Official Record on Saudi Arabia and 9/11

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

This riveting book is essential reading for anyone interested in U.S. policy in the Middle East or Saudi Arabia. Riedel offers a thorough, thoughtful and candid account of the diplomatic highs and lows between two strange bedfellows. A great contribution to the literature by someone who witnessed it play out from inside the policy establishment and who has known the key players.—Robin Wright, author of Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion across the Islamic World

Few if any Americans have the depth of experience of Bruce Riedel in dealing with the volatile neighborhood inhabited by Saudi Arabia. In this excellent new book, Riedel tells the history of US-Saudi ties through the interactions of Saudi kings and American presidents. He leavens the narrative with charming anecdotes, from the movie Ibn Saud saw en route to his meeting with Franklin Roosevelt, to the ‘Dr. No’-style aquarium in the palace of King Abdullah. A must-read for both scholars and the general public, the book raises all the necessary questions about the future of the Kingdom and its complicated alliance with the United States.—Barbara Slavin , Director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council and author, Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the US and the Twisted Path to Confrontation

From the Publisher

2017-10-23
An expert on the Middle East explores the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States.Since World War II, the U.S. has enjoyed a reliable ally in an Islamic theocracy dominated by a fundamentalist clergy intolerant of Western values. This oddball friendship receives a cleareyed if disturbing account by former CIA analyst and senior Middle East adviser Riedel (JFK's Forgotten Crisis: Tibet, the CIA and the Sino-Indian War, 2015, etc.). He begins with a historic February 1945 meeting between Franklin Roosevelt and King Ibn Saud (1875-1953), an impressive figure who, over a lifetime, united most of the Arabian peninsula under his rule. Penniless and surrounded by hostile rivals mostly supported by Britain, which he detested, the king granted generous oil concessions and permission to build the first of many bases. Roosevelt aimed to persuade him to tolerate Jewish immigration to Palestine. Failing, he promised that America would "take no action…which might prove hostile to the Arab people." Students of history know how that turned out. Saudi Arabia remained a backwater until the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when it led an oil embargo that quadrupled prices and introduced Americans to a Middle Eastern powerhouse. The alliance endures despite other "near-death" experiences such as America's long preference for Iran, a bitter rival. The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War salvaged the partnership; both nations supported Iraq. The 1990s were a golden age when President George H.W. Bush sent troops to repulse Saddam Hussein; under Bill Clinton, the U.S. aggressively pursued a peace policy in the region. Serious strains arose after 9/11; 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi, revealing that terrorism has long flourished in the kingdom.Political histories are often a snooze, but Riedel is a lively, opinionated writer whose sympathy with his subjects' viewpoints will enlighten most readers.

Kirkus Reviews