Isaiah Kenen, President Eisenhower, and Aid to Israel During the Suez Crisis

This paper looks at one important stage in Isaiah Kenen’s establishment of the AIPAC, now one of the strongest and most influential American lobby groups. Kenen used a management theory that allowed AIPAC to grew into the organization we see and know today, and he developed a method that allowed the organization to impact Israel’s relationship with the US. But how did this “one-man show” recruit and mobilize thousands of people—as early as the eventful months surrounding Israel’s Sinai War.The paper’s analysis will therefore start from an overview of key points that Kenen outlined in a letter during this period (1956–57) attached directly to President Eisenhower’s changing views on Israel and the Middle East. I will then highlight my research pertaining to Kenen’s management of the organization that informed Eisenhower’s policy,looking at how Kenen during the years around this time built the organization’s power.