Traces of Empire: Decolonization and the United States in Lebanon, 1941-1967

This dissertation explores how the United States became an "imperial" power in Lebanese imaginations after its political decolonization.As Lebanon obtained its full constitutional independence in 1946, a shift occurred in how Lebanese peoples perceived and encountered U.S. global power.Despite the United States' anti-imperial rhetoric and support for Lebanese self-determination, many Lebanese increasingly grew disenchanted with real and imagined U.S. interferences in national and regional affairs, as well as Washington's apparent blatant disregard for Arab human rights.In particular, U.S. public declarations in favor of Zionism and support toward the creation of Israel-a perceived product and surrogate of Western imperialism-in May 1948 led many to question U.S. motives in the Middle East, interrogate the United States' so-called anti-imperial tradition, and equate Lebanon's post-independence present with its colonized past.Despite being self-governing, Lebanese society imagined itself in a constant state of decolonization as traces of empire remained and jeopardized Lebanon's sovereignty.The U.S. military intervention in the Lebanese civil war of 1958 contributed to ongoing constructions that considered Washington to be openly disregarding Lebanese public opinion and stepping into the shoes of fading imperial iv powers in the Middle East: Britain and France.The U.S. sale of Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to Israel in 1962 and, finally, the popular belief that the United States colluded with Israel during the third Arab-Israeli war of 1967 formalized the process in which U.S. "empire" became a reality in Lebanese mindscapes.By the war's end, many Lebanese peoples viewed the United States as being far from exceptional as it had fully embraced an "imperial" policy and culture like others before it and stood at odds with decolonization.v DEDICATION For Katie vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I will never forget where I was when I first heard about the tragic events of September 11 th , 2001.I was eighteen and a senior at l'Ecole secondaire l'Héritage in my hometown of Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.The bell signaling the break between first and second period had just gone off.As walked to my locker, I crossed the daytime custodian.Immediately following our regular morning greetings, she delivered the shocking news: the Twin Towers had been attacked.My first reaction-like that of many in my high school, the United States, and across the globe-was: who had done this and why?So many lives lost; and for what?For the remainder of the day, my Franco-Ontario friends and I turned to our teachers, wondering how such a tragedy could take place, and attentively tuned into CNN later that day for news.Born and raised in Cornwall, many of us often crossed the St. Lawrence River and traveled a mere ten minutes south into upstate New York.Many of us, therefore, felt connected to the United States.It was a part of our daily lives.Relatives of mine lived in nearby Massena, New York, and I visited them myriad times a year throughout my childhood.This said, Le Monde's memorable September 12 th headline, "Nous sommes tous Américains," adequately represented the feelings of many in my small, non-American town, myself included.vii Long after U.S. president George W. Bush stood before the world and asked "why do 'they' hate 'us'?," 9/11 continued to impact my intellectual development.Prior to my high school graduation, my mother and aunt took my sister and I to New York City for a weekend of sightseeing.Transformed into a mere construction site, I personally encountered Ground Zero and witnessed all the messages left behind by others before me.A mere nine-months or so later, I sat in my first-year world history since 1945 class at the Université d'Ottawa and engaged in vibrant discussions over the global war on terror and the United States' invasion of Iraq.Puzzled as to how and why such events took place, I developed an interest in the histories of U.S. involvement in the Middle East and Washington's relations with Arab-Muslim peoples.More specifically, I felt a need to challenge dominant stereotypes of Arab anti-Americanism and place the latter in its proper historical context.This dissertation, while far from offering definitive answers, is the culmination of ten-years of curiosity, dedication, and hard work.

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