America’s Forgotten Project: TAPline and the Rise of a New Capitalist Order in the Levant, 1945-1950
Date of Submission
Spring 2019
Academic Programs and Concentrations
Historical Studies; Middle Eastern Studies
Project Advisor 1
Omar Cheta
Abstract/Artist's Statement
The TAPline Company, incorporated in 1945 in the state of Delaware as a private subsidiary of the massive oil conglomerate Arabian American Oil Company (ARAMCO), occupied a position of significant authority in the Middle East. Designed in accordance with the U.S. government’s broader post-war economic agenda, TAPline was the means by which Washington subsidized ARAMCO’s expansion in the Middle East. It was thus a link between the government and the private oil industry, and was as much a project of the private sector and the government. However, through a reading of multiple archives, I argue in this thesis that the TAPline Company, at the moment when the U.S. and its economy were becoming hegemonic, was in large part independent of Washington—it repeatedly attempted to distinguish itself from the government. In addition, I show that the TAPline Company, as an authoritative influence in the Middle East, influenced the policies of Arab governments and subsequently assembled an early alliance to rally around the petroleum industry. In a process of historical revision and in examining the TAPline Company’s relationship with the state of Syria, I reexamine the constitution of American power in the early years of the postcolonial period in the Middle East. What was TAPline’s relationship with the United States and how does it characterize a larger trend in both the U.S. and the Middle East? How was TAPline involved in the development of oil politics of Arab states? How did TAPline shape the trajectory of postcolonial states in the Levant, particularly Syria?
Open Access Agreement
Open Access
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Raimondi, Eric James, "America’s Forgotten Project: TAPline and the Rise of a New Capitalist Order in the Levant, 1945-1950" (2019). Senior Projects Spring 2019. 327.
https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2019/327
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