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U.S.-Libyan Relations - 1945-1969 - Kingdom of Libya

The immediate postwar period brought independence to Libya and good relations with the United States. As part of the peace settlement, Italy renounced its colonies in Africa. After the war, in June 1947, the United States established an air base, later named Wheelus Airfield, near Tripoli. On November 21, 1949, the United Nations General Assembly voted to grant independence to Libya by January 1, 1952, and later appointed Assistant Secretary General Adrian Pelt of The Netherlands as UN Commissioner in Libya. The UN appointed a council, called the Council of Ten, to advise Pelt, and Lewis Clark served as the U.S. representative to this group. With independence forthcoming, the United States reopened its Consulate in Tripoli in 1948, and in November 1950, announced that Libya would receive technical assistance under President Truman's Point Four program.

Meeting in February 1951, the Libyan National Assembly called for the immediate formation of the United Kingdom of Libya, created a committee to draft a constitution, and offered Sayyid Idris the throne. Work on the constitution was completed, and on December 24, 1951, the National Assembly declared the independence of Libya, with King Idris I as head of state. The United States immediately recognized the new Libyan state, raising its Consulate to a Legation and appointing Henry S. Villard of New York as the first U.S. Minister to Libya. At the time of independence, the United States also signed an agreement with Libya that provided for the continued use of Wheelus Airfield.

Under King Idris I, U.S.-Libyan relations were good, and resembled those with other newly-independent, developing nations. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles visited Libya on May 28, 1953, the first and only Secretary of State to do so. The United States raised its Legation in Tripoli to Embassy status on September 25, 1954, and John L. Tappin was appointed as the first U.S. Ambassador on the same day. The United States and Libya signed several agreements for cooperative programs in agriculture, education, natural resources, and public health in July 1955.

In the wake of the 1956 Suez Crisis, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower's enunciation of the Eisenhower Doctrine, the United States intensified its support for Libya. During his January 5, 1957 address to Congress, President Eisenhower promised that the United States would defend countries in the Middle East against Communist aggression and would supply development and security assistance as needed (the Eisenhower Doctrine). Ambassador James P. Richards, Special Assistant to President Eisenhower, visited Libya in March as part of a Middle East tour. His mission was a direct result of the President's declaration. Richards made a second visit to Libya on May 4, and a joint U.S.-Libyan communiqué announced that the United States was prepared to assist in a survey of Libyan development needs, including development of broadcasting and telecommunications, assistance in education, electric power development, and domestic water supplies. In March 1957, Vice President Richard M. Nixon visited Libya, and reported to President Eisenhower that Libya held "a key strategic position with respect to North Africa and the flank of NATO. We cannot afford to lose Libya." Later that year, the United States and Libya signed a military assistance agreement.

The discovery of oil in 1959 dramatically shifted the dynamics of U.S.-Libyan relations, although this was not initially clear. Until the discovery of oil in Zelten, about 200 miles south of Benghazi, one of Libya's chief exports was scrap metal from the desert battlefields of World War II. By 1961, 10 fields were producing oil for export, and by 1965, Libya was the sixth-largest oil exporting country. The United States terminated its economic assistance program, and in 1964, during negotiations on the future of U.S. and British military bases in Libya, the United States agreed in principle to give up Wheelus Airfield. During the 1967 Six Day War, Libya did not break relations with the United States, unlike seven other Middle Eastern and North African nations; however, it did join five nations and suspended oil exports to the United States. Riots led to the evacuation of more than 7,000 U.S. and other foreign nationals from Libya.