Reagan's Middle East: Lebanon and the Evolution of U.S. Strategy, 1981-1985

This project evaluates how the Reagan administration’s diplomatic and military interventions in Lebanon shaped American perceptions of threat and opportunity in the Middle East. Drawing on recently declassified records, it demonstrates that the experience forced U.S. policymakers to acknowledge new security concerns beyond the dominant Cold War contest and to reconsider their presumption that military power alone could deter adversaries from challenging American interests in the region. Lebanon therefore illustrates a moment of transition in which the Reagan administration’s conception of the United States’ power and responsibility was tested and, in turn, transformed.