Crude Oil, Crude Money: Aristotle Onassis, Saudi Arabia, and the CIA

by Thomas W. Lippman

Overview

Tells the untold story of how Exxon, Mobil, Chevron, and Texaco teamed up with the CIA and Department of State to thwart the plans of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who almost managed to reshape the Middle East.

In 1954 Aristotle Onassis (long before he married Jacqueline Kennedy) made a bold business gamble: he tried to corner the crude oil shipping market by signing a deal with the King of Saudi Arabia. If it had worked, it would have reshaped the history of the Middle East. As it was, the proposed deal terrified British and U.S. oil companies and the Dulles brothers, who saw it as the first move in the nationalization of Saudi oil. Complicating things were the burgeoning Arab nationalist movement led by Egypt's newly elected president, Gamal Nasser. And of course there were the Soviets, now without Stalin, eager to build influence in the region.

This little known story about the collision of nationalism, money, celebrity, and oil sheds new light on the tangled history of the Middle East. Drawing on the author's immense knowledge of the Middle East, and original research incorporating unexplored declassified documents, the book is an eye-opener for students of U.S. foreign policy, anyone interested in the global oil business, and scholars and historians of the role of the U.S. in the Arab world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440863943
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	05/03/2019
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Thomas W. Lippman has been writing about Saudi Arabia for 40 years. He is a former Middle East bureau chief at the Washington Post and author of seven previous books, including Saudi Arabia on the Edge.

Table of Contents

Notes on Language and Usage vii

Cast of Characters ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xiii

Chapter 1 The Reign of Big Oil 1

Chapter 2 Signs of Trouble 17

Chapter 3 Intrigue on the Riviera 32

Chapter 4 Onassis in the Dock 46

Chapter 5 The Shot Heard 'Round the World of Oil 54

Chapter 6 Oil and the Cold War 66

Chapter 7 The CIA Is on the Case 76

Chapter 8 A Two-Tier Strategy 88

Chapter 9 The World vs. Onassis 96

Chapter 10 Too Many Moving Parts 110

Chapter 11 Onassis "in the Doghouse" 121

Chapter 12 Power Struggle in the Kingdom 133

Chapter 13 Don't Embarrass the King 142

Chapter 14 The Revenge of Spyridon Catapodis 152

Chapter 15 The Power of the Press 159

Chapter 16 Impasse 169

Chapter 17 Dark Days for Onassis 178

Chapter 18 New Issues Emerge 186

Chapter 19 New Crisis, Old Cases 196

Chapter 20 The Suez Crisis 204

Chapter 21 The End of the Affair 216

Notes 229

Select Bibliography 255

Index 257

What People are Saying About This

Mehran Kamrava

"From one of the keenest observers of Middle East history comes a fascinating tale of Cold War politics, international finance, big oil, CIA intrigue, shipping magnates, and romance. At the heart of the story is Lippman’s erudite account of how Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf emerged as central to America’s calculus of Cold War competition against the Soviet Union and other potential rivals, in turn shaping the strategic importance of Middle Eastern oil and setting off power struggles within the House of Saud, the Suez Canal Crisis, and much more. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in in-depth histories of the Cold War, oil, and the Persian Gulf."

Dr. Roby C. Barrett

"In Crude Oil, Crude Money, Tom Lippman provides a fascinating narrative of one set of moves in the Eisenhower administration' and the Dulles brothers' complex game in Arabian Gulf to consolidate U.S. economic interests. Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, it adds important insights into U.S. policy, the Dulles brothers and their business links with "Big Oil", and how the role that the Onassis Affair played in the 1950-1958 U.S. struggle to protect, consolidate, and expand its economic interests in the region. Lippman's book is a must read that has added the Onassis Affair to the list of mid-1950s struggles in the Arab Middle East — Buraimi, Jabal al-Akdar insurgency, Nasser, Yemen, and the Saudi succession — that would ultimately make the U.S. the preeminent foreign power in the Gulf."

Robert W. Jordan

"Through meticulous research in newly declassified documents, Tom Lippman has once again written a compelling account of skulduggery in the dark corners of the Middle East. He takes us into the new, overmatched Saudi king’s royal palace, where the king ignores existing concessions granted to the major oil companies (vital to U.S. energy security) and commits to a shady deal to turn control of much of the world’s oil supply to tankers owned by Onassis. Bribery, royal court bungling, and CIA efforts to sabotage the Onassis deal without derailing the Saudi alliance all powerfully command the reader’s attention. As with his earlier works, Lippman combines a crisp, detailed writing style with a zest for a plot that thickens with each chapter. It’s a terrific work by a real expert."

Editorial Reviews

Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.” —Choice

From the Publisher