FOREIGN RELATIONS: Dimensions of a Crisis

The most urgent problem confronting the President on his return from Denver was the stability of the Middle East. The Communists recently began shipping a consignment of 100 tanks, 200 jets and two submarines to Egypt, and now Israel was asking the U.S. for arms. If the President rejected the Israeli request, the huge new Communist commitment would eventually tip the balance of power in the Middle East. If the President sent arms-to Israel, he would antagonize the oil-rich Arab states. Beyond the specifics of his dilemma lay the question of whether the President could much longer maintain the...