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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Oil, war, and American security: the search for a national policy on foreign oil, 1941-1947

Book ·
OSTI ID:6158385
This book is concerned with the search for a national policy on foreign oil from 1941 to 1947. World War II saw an attempt to develop a national policy on foreign oil. The United States did not have a diplomatic post in Arabia until 1942, though for some time Ibn Saud's nearly bankrupt kingdom had been partly supported by the British government and American oil companies. In 1941, the United States established an office in the State Department to deal with oil policy; it was headed by an oil executive whose company continued to pay him nearly four times his federal salary. Characteristically Roosevelt played off subordinates, Harold Ickes and Cordell Hull, against one another, and the impetus toward a policy was due in part to their jockeying for control. Rivalry with England, another major factor, led to an Anglo-American oil agreement, but this pact was not ratified by the Senate. The style of the book is narrative. (DP)
OSTI ID:
6158385
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English