ABSTRACT
The interwar years, 1919-39, proved to be a period of transition for both American diplomats and American archaeologists in their relations with the Republic of Turkey. Close examination shows a surprisingly rapid diplomatic adjustment to changing circumstances but a somewhat slower response on the part of archaeologists. Often archaeologists, whom Washington relied on to strengthen US-Turkish cultural relations, became involved in disagreements with the authorities in Ankara. Historian Roger Trask was not entirely accurate, therefore, when he wrote in the early 1970s that 'unlike most other Americans who worked in Turkey, the archaeologists did not experience any substantial diffi culty because of Turkish nationalism'.1
