28-10-2012, 01:48 AM
You were right Albert. This has turned into a pissing contest of sorts. In any case, the issue of BG's resignation/mental state and whether this is attributable to Kennedy's pressure seems to have become a major bone of contention. I don't like quoting long slabs of text from books but this excerpt from Cohen (pp.135-136) covers it pretty well I think:
Did Kennedy's pressure play a role in Ben-Gurion's resignation? Ben-Gurion never provided an explanation for his decision, except in reference to "personal reasons". To his cabinet colleagues Ben-Gurion said that he "must" resign and that "no state problem or event caused it".
Ben-Gurion's biographer suggested that there was no one specific political reason, but that it was his general mental state--manifested by a series of panicky, even paranoid, actions--of the previous ten weeks that led the seventy six year old leader to resign. Bar-Zohar speculates that domestic politics, not foreign policy, influenced his decision. Yitzhak Navon, Ben-Gurion's close aide, also believes that the reason for the resignation might have been personal rather than political, and suggests that concerns over his mental deterioration, particularly his loss of memory, might have played a role. Navon does not think that Kennedy's pressure on Dimona caused Ben-Gurion to resign.
Others, however, including ministers in Ben-Gurion's cabinet (Pinhas Sapir, for example), believed that Ben-Gurion's decision was, in part, connected to Kennedy's pressure on Dimona. Israel Galili, the leader of Achdut Ha'Avodah, was convinced that Ben-Gurion's sense of failure and frustration in dealings with Kennedy on the matter of Dimona was among the reasons that led to his resignation. This is also the view of Yuval Ne'eman who, in 1963, was the director of the Soreq Nuclear Research Centre and was involved in the consultations involving the replies to Kennedy's demands. Ambassador Barbour also hints that Kennedy's letters and Ben-Gurion's resignation might have been linked. In his telegram on Ben-Gurion's resignation, he noted: "while probably not a major cause of dissension, this issue [Dimona] was itself not without controversy when Ben-Gurion presented it to his colleagues before dispatching his letter of May 27."
Whatever the reasons for his resignation, Ben-Gurion's public and private commitments in his last three years in office, particularly the one in his May 27 letter to Kennedy, undermined his long term objective: to shield the completion of Dimona's infrastructure from international pressure. DeGaulle's reversal on the issue of French aid to Israel and Kennedy's opposition to nuclear weapons proliferation may have persuaded Ben-Gurion that Israel would find it difficult to complete the project, especially in the face of American pressure. Ben-Gurion thus concluded that he could not tell the truth about Dimona to American leaders, not even in private."
So the issue of whether BG's mental deterioration and subsequent resignation is attributable to Kennedy's pressure on Dimona is at the very least, controversial. Personally I'm sure it was the catalyst, but that's just my opinion. To BG, giving up Dimona was unthinkable. A major confrontation with the US, which JFK alluded to in his letters, was also unthinkable. So a third option was sought--and found. With Israel's glove puppet in the White House after November 22, it was full steam ahead. Of course, that's just my opinion.
Did Kennedy's pressure play a role in Ben-Gurion's resignation? Ben-Gurion never provided an explanation for his decision, except in reference to "personal reasons". To his cabinet colleagues Ben-Gurion said that he "must" resign and that "no state problem or event caused it".
Ben-Gurion's biographer suggested that there was no one specific political reason, but that it was his general mental state--manifested by a series of panicky, even paranoid, actions--of the previous ten weeks that led the seventy six year old leader to resign. Bar-Zohar speculates that domestic politics, not foreign policy, influenced his decision. Yitzhak Navon, Ben-Gurion's close aide, also believes that the reason for the resignation might have been personal rather than political, and suggests that concerns over his mental deterioration, particularly his loss of memory, might have played a role. Navon does not think that Kennedy's pressure on Dimona caused Ben-Gurion to resign.
Others, however, including ministers in Ben-Gurion's cabinet (Pinhas Sapir, for example), believed that Ben-Gurion's decision was, in part, connected to Kennedy's pressure on Dimona. Israel Galili, the leader of Achdut Ha'Avodah, was convinced that Ben-Gurion's sense of failure and frustration in dealings with Kennedy on the matter of Dimona was among the reasons that led to his resignation. This is also the view of Yuval Ne'eman who, in 1963, was the director of the Soreq Nuclear Research Centre and was involved in the consultations involving the replies to Kennedy's demands. Ambassador Barbour also hints that Kennedy's letters and Ben-Gurion's resignation might have been linked. In his telegram on Ben-Gurion's resignation, he noted: "while probably not a major cause of dissension, this issue [Dimona] was itself not without controversy when Ben-Gurion presented it to his colleagues before dispatching his letter of May 27."
Whatever the reasons for his resignation, Ben-Gurion's public and private commitments in his last three years in office, particularly the one in his May 27 letter to Kennedy, undermined his long term objective: to shield the completion of Dimona's infrastructure from international pressure. DeGaulle's reversal on the issue of French aid to Israel and Kennedy's opposition to nuclear weapons proliferation may have persuaded Ben-Gurion that Israel would find it difficult to complete the project, especially in the face of American pressure. Ben-Gurion thus concluded that he could not tell the truth about Dimona to American leaders, not even in private."
So the issue of whether BG's mental deterioration and subsequent resignation is attributable to Kennedy's pressure on Dimona is at the very least, controversial. Personally I'm sure it was the catalyst, but that's just my opinion. To BG, giving up Dimona was unthinkable. A major confrontation with the US, which JFK alluded to in his letters, was also unthinkable. So a third option was sought--and found. With Israel's glove puppet in the White House after November 22, it was full steam ahead. Of course, that's just my opinion.