American diplomats of the interwar era, referred to here as Orientalists, were the staff of the former Bureau of Near East Affairs (NEA). The hallmark of the group was that they possessed some kind of so-called area experience. Most often this meant they had lived in the region and knew some Arabic. The only Americans with such experience were usually the children of missionaries or oil company employees.

The Orientalists held deep convictions about American policy, its relationship to the people of the Arab world and, as British and French colonialism faded, the region's potential as an American partner. The Orientalists worked to retain good relations between the Arab world and the United States and took a vocal, high-profile role in advocating their foreign policy views. Their claims to expertise were often based on having lived or worked in the Middle East and their personal contacts with the political elite. Most Orientalists began their work during World War I and then rose to prominence in the interwar period. A few were drafted into the State Department late in life to serve as area experts during World War II.

Evan Wilson joined the NEA as the Orientalist era ended and recalled it was still “a sine qua non that its personnel should have experience in the area”. This began in 1909, and Wilson recalled that “it was made a departmental requirement that the division be staffed by officers who had served in the Near East. This policy was still being generally followed when I joined the division in 1943”. The requirement was not academic study, but personal life experience.

In the interwar era there were no courses on modern Middle East politics and very few books on contemporary social issues or history. The study of the Near East was solely undertaken by the realm of anthropologists who often approached the region from an archeological perspective.

There were no schools in which to learn modern Arabic in the United States during the interwar period. The first professional organization for area experts, the Middle East Institute, was established in 1947, and the first organization for academic specialists, the Middle East Studies Association, was founded nearly two decades later in 1966.