Destroyed Syrian tanks and engineering equipment on the Golan Heights in Israel, Oct. 13, 1973.
Photo:
Eitan Haris/GPO/Getty Images
Decisive presidential action can make the difference between success and catastrophe in conflicts abroad. Look back 50 years and history gives us an example of the type of American presidential leadership required to defeat
Russia in Ukraine and help secure Ukraine’s independence for the long term.
The 1973 Yom Kippur War was, much like the war in Ukraine, more than a regional conflict. Israel was an important strategic partner of the U.S. in the Middle East. Egypt and Syria were closely tied to the Soviet Union. When Egypt and Syria launched a two-pronged attack on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, Israel was caught unaware and unprepared.
Early successes by the Arab invaders put Israel in a fight for its survival. By the third day of the war, Israel was on the ropes. It had lost more than 1,000 fighters and a third of its tanks.
I was in the White House and remember the dilemma my father-in-law, President
Richard Nixon,
faced: how to ensure Israel’s survival without creating a superpower conflict. To avoid being cast as a “pitiful, helpless giant,” unwilling to use our military strength to support our allies and strategic partners, the U.S. had to act decisively. Nixon directed the Defense Department to replace all of Israel’s military-equipment losses quickly.
The Pentagon didn’t get the message. When the president asked for a status report,
Henry Kissinger,
his national security adviser, told him, “Defense is putting up all kinds of obstacles.” Meanwhile, American intelligence was reporting that the Soviets were mounting a large airlift of weapons and supplies to Syria and Egypt.
The president told Mr. Kissinger to instruct the Pentagon to “speed it up.” Several days passed, and the…
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