Who lost the Middle East?

After the Chinese communists led by Mao Zedong won the civil war in China in 1949 and forced Chiang Kai-shek and his pro-American Chinese Nationalists to flee to Taiwan, US Congress and the press started to debate the question: “Who Lost China?” Conservatives blamed the “China Hands” in the US State Department, who were accused of exhibiting pro-communist sympathies, while liberal critics argued that Washington’s long-time support for the corrupt Nationalists ended up producing anti-American blowback in China. ¹