ABSTRACT
The advocacy of economic and technical assistance for Lebanon remained a constant feature of Embassy communiqués to Washington, one on which US ambassador Hare increasingly focused to offset domestic tensions and regime weakness. For the US ambassador, the assignment was not to promote reform but to assure continuity of power without undue expenditure on Washington's part. The Lebanese government's offer to pay for the equipment it sought from the United States was an additional factor to consider. Charles Malik countered with a revised proposal that enhanced the status of the "rear area" states by recommending "a second defensive grouping behind the Northern Tier group, the 'rear area' group to consist of Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt, with Turkey as the connecting link between the two groups." To US and Lebanese business circles in Beirut, the Lebanon of the mid-1950s was a thriving emporium.
