This volume investigates the diplomatic maneuvers and policy decisions of the United States government regarding the escalating Arab-Israeli conflict during the first seven months of 1956. Editors Carl N. Raether and John P. Glennon compile declassified State Department records, internal memoranda, and correspondence to illustrate the American attempt to maintain regional stability amidst rising tensions. The text provides a primary source framework for understanding how Cold War imperatives influenced U.S. mediation efforts in the Middle East prior to the Suez Crisis.

Historians and researchers utilize this series as the definitive primary source collection for American diplomatic history during the mid-twentieth century. Readers frequently note the high density of the prose and the specialized nature of the documentation, which is intended for academic and policy analysis.