ABSTRACT
This citation was part of the conversation on 24 July 1959 between the Kuwaiti leader, Shaykh ‘Abdullah Salim Al Sabah and the US Ambassador to Lebanon, Robert McClintock, at the Kuwaiti leader’s grand residence in a resort town in the Bekaa valley. While seen as a firm commitment to uphold bilateral US-Kuwaiti relations, it also reflected the Kuwaiti regime’s acquiescence in British control over its foreign relations’ outlook. As soon as Kuwait gained its independence in June 1961, a question was raised as to whether US-Kuwaiti relations would become closer and more direct in their contacts. As a conservative, monarchical regime and small state, Kuwait would pose no great problems for the US government, but the relationship would be far from easy.
