The Importance of Oil In U.S. Foreign PolicyIntroductionDuring the oil and energy crisis of the mid-1970sAmericans became painfully aware of the consequences of theUnited States dependence on foreign sources of oil.Unfortunately, research and exploration for alternativesources of oil in North America has not been pursuedvigorously enough to cease such foreign dependence. As a result, in the mid-1990s Americans find themselvesin the same precarious position as they were during the1970s. The Persian-Gulf War in 1991 was all the proof neededto convince the United States of how strongly oil stillinfluences our foreign policy and international relations ingeneral.Oil and U.S. Foreign Policy: Historical IssuesThe United States has had a long history of supportingand aiding oil-rich countries in time of political oreconomic crisis. Specifically, the U.S. has reliedpredominantly on oil imports from the Middle East since the1920s. This was a result of several events.The availabilityand cost of gas became a critical issue in 1920, becausethere were numerous oil shortages on the Pacific Coast.According to Beaver (1991), “Union Oil and Standard Oil ofCalifornia rushed petroleum by rail from Texas to the LosAngeles area in order to ease "the acute shortage ofgasoline" and the long lines at service stations. InPortland, Oregon, gasoline was rationed during the summermonths as the price climbed to 50 cents per gallon” (Beaver,1991, p. 241).As a result of this situation and another historicalfactor, consumption of oil almost doubled during the decade.This factor was Americans love of the newly inventedautomobile. Right after World War I and throughout the1920s, the U.S. began to experiment with ways of developingits own energy resources, namely the use of synthetic fuels.However, during the 1920s, synthetic fuel development wasultimately not successful. However, the issues surroundingoil did become more clearly defined. According to B...
