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Western window in the Arab world

Blair, Leon Borden
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Date
1968
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Abstract
This dissertation concerns the impact of almost one million Americans, military personnel and their dependents, upon the Moroccan people in the period from 1942 to 1963. It is based upon documents in United States military archives, supplemented by published materials from Moroccan, French, and United States sources, and by extensive personal interviews and correspondence with participants in the events described. Interpretative insights were provided by the author's seven-year residence, from 1954 through 1960, in the North African area. Extensive contact between the Americans and Moroccans began on November 8, 1942, when the first assault waves of Operation Torch landed on the Moroccan beaches and has continued uninterrupted to the present. Operation Torch reflected British, not American, strategy, and had as its objective the reopening of the Mediterranean Sea to Allied naval power and the re-entry of France into the war against the Axis Powers. Allied planning was based largely on information provided by pro-Vichy sources and the inaccuracy of that information resulted in heavy fighting at Casablanca and Port Lyautey. The quick defeat of the French military forces before the very eyes of the Moroccan people destroyed the myth of French power and sparked growth of Moroccan nationalism, In the ensuing conflict between Morocco and France, the United States consistently supported the French position. As the price for French support against the Axis, the United States pledged support for the restoration of the pre-war French colonial empire and fulfilled her pledge even though it meant denial of President Roosevelt's promise to King Mohammed V of Morocco to support the cause of Moroccan independence. In 1950, faced by a renewed threat of Soviet aggression, the United States negotiated an agreement with France and built four United States Air Force bases in Morocco without consultation with or notification to the Moroccan government. During the violent phases of the Moroccan Revolution, which terminated with Moroccan independence in 1956, the United States gave diplomatic support to France and after independence refused to dissociate the United States position in Morocco from that of France lest the NATO alliance be disrupted. In spite of the diplomatic differences between the Uni??ed States and Morocco, American military personnel and their dependents by their egalitarianism, humanitarianism, and evident interest, reinforced the idealistic image of the United States held by most Moroccans. That attitude, inculcated primarily by U. s. Navy personnel and often at cross purposes with diplomatic positions, so conditioned Moroccan public opinion that the United States was able to retain essential military facilities in Morocco in spite of a somewhat sterile diplomatic policy and both Communist and Moroccan nationalist demands for evacuation of the United States military bases.
Contents
Subject
Subject(s)
Operation Torch
United States--Relations--Morocco
Morocco--Relations--United States
Morocco--Relations--France
France--Relations--Morocco
United States--Relations--France
France--Relations--United States
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Dissertation
Description
Format
v, 482 leaves, bound
Department
History
Advisor
Reuter, Frank T.
URI
https://repository.tcu.edu/handle/116099117/33502