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GEOPOLITICS

With Chamoun’s term in office, Washington and Cairo enter the fray

Lebanon is often referred to as a country ever subject to external influence, where embassies and consulates hold sway. While this clichéd assertion may allow local stakeholders to shirk their responsibilities, it also reflects the ascendancy of external powers in major Lebanese elections, especially presidential elections. Since 1943, no president can claim to have been elected without a regional and international green light. Over the decades, several foreign powers have had a say in the election of a Lebanese head of state, be it the United Kingdom, France, Syria, Iran, Egypt or the United States. Once elected, a Lebanese president’s mandate may depend on regional factors. This story is one of power games, diplomatic interference, and precarious geopolitical balancing acts, which L'Orient-Le Jour intends to tell in a 13-part series. This second installment sheds light on how Camille Chamoun’s term was disrupted by the United Kingdom, then the United States and the growing influence of Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Egypt.

With Chamoun’s term in office, Washington and Cairo enter the fray

Lebanese President Camille Chamoun, right, and Jordan’s King Hussein in Beirut, 1955. (Credit: ©Archives L’OLJ)

Following World War II (1939-1945), the United States opted for a policy intent on putting an end to the French and British colonial empires.Washington encouraged independence movements and, with the onset of the Cold War, began the search for spheres of influence in its fight against communism and the Soviet bloc.Viewed from this perspective, the presidential term of Camille Chamoun (1952-1858) came to reflect this shift in US policy. The six-year term of Chamoun, the president who was first nicknamed “the champion of Arabism,” has also been called “Lebanon’s golden age.”It all began with the resignation of Bechara al-Khoury — who in 1943 became the first president of independent Lebanon — in the wake of the “White Socialist Revolution” in the summer of 1952, an expression of popular anger against the regime.Following the uprising,...
Following World War II (1939-1945), the United States opted for a policy intent on putting an end to the French and British colonial empires.Washington encouraged independence movements and, with the onset of the Cold War, began the search for spheres of influence in its fight against communism and the Soviet bloc.Viewed from this perspective, the presidential term of Camille Chamoun (1952-1858) came to reflect this shift in US policy. The six-year term of Chamoun, the president who was first nicknamed “the champion of Arabism,” has also been called “Lebanon’s golden age.”It all began with the resignation of Bechara al-Khoury — who in 1943 became the first president of independent Lebanon — in the wake of the “White Socialist Revolution” in the summer of 1952, an expression of popular anger against the regime.Following...