Hope and Destiny

In Hope and Destiny, author Dr. Harry Keatts Chenault Jr. takes an in-depth look at the Middle East foreign policies of President Truman and President Eisenhower, along with the significant impact Senator J. William Fulbright had during the Eisenhower years. It provides an historical account of how these three men dealt with serious challenges in the Middle East.

The beginning of the Cold War and the genesis of the nuclear age forced Truman and Eisenhower to make tough, savvy decisions that would influence US foreign policy for decades. Fulbright is noted as a key player for his substantial impact on foreign policy decision-making, famous for his stance against Vietnam, but less known for the position he took on the Middle East in the 1950s and how his opinions prevailed.

With exhaustive sources and thoughtfully assembled observations, Hope and Destiny offers a valuable tool to help understand how events today resonate so soundly from the nation’s past. The legacies that Truman, Eisenhower, and Fulbright left on US foreign policy, and especially in the Middle East, leaves a future roadmap for all US political and military leaders.