The Jewish Lobby and U.S. Policy Toward Israel in 1952-1954.

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the study of the Jewish lobby and its influence on the U.S. foreign policy decision-making in 1952-1954. The methods applied by Jewish lobbyists to defend the interests of Israel in the U.S. administration and Congress during the stated period are revealed. The assessment of the effectiveness of these methods as the ruling party changed was carried out. The research starting point is 1952, when the U.S. presidential election took place, D. Eisenhower won and that created the need for the Jewish lobby to adapt itself to the new administration. The upper research limit was 1954, a period when relations between the countries cooled down because of the desire of the U.S. to establish a dialogue with Arab states, as well as the aggressive foreign policy of Israel itself. The article analyzes the materials of the State Archive of Israel, which were not previously used by Russian historians in the study of this topic. Conclusions are drawn that in 1952-1954 the Jewish lobby only entered the stage of its consolidation as response to the changes in the US foreign policy agenda. Previously, it was represented by disparate organizations, in which only the leaders, due to common interests, used a single approach to lobbying. The Israeli government used the lobby for informal contact with the American side in case of conflict situations with Arab countries, as well as to defend its interests in matters related to financial and military assistance provided by United States. The emerging crisis in relations between Israel and United States in 1954 showed that under the administration of D. Eisenhower the Jewish lobby had to transform the lobbying mechanism to effectively demonstrate that cooperation with Israel was more in line with US foreign policy interests in the region.