This presentation discussed new research on U.S. foreign oil policy in the Near East immediately after World War I. It focuses on the influence of corporate executives, geologists, lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians in U.S. decisionmaking regarding the Mesopotamia Mandate, Iran, and Mexico. Special attention will be paid to the development and influence of U.S. industrial ideology and its interpretation of Mexican and Iranian arguments for economic sovereignty.
About the Speaker
Chris Dietrich is Associate professor of History at Fordham University in the Bronx. A graduate of Grinnell College and the University of Texas at Austin, he is the author of Oil Revolution (2017) and editor of Diplomacy and Capitalism (2022). He is a co-editor of the Power, Politics, and the World series at Penn Press.
Sponsor(s): Center for Near Eastern Studies