The purpose of this study was to trace the historical development of the American University of Beirut and its educational contributions in Lebanon and the Middle East from 1920 to 1967. Through their activities in the Levant in the early nineteenth century, the American missionaries virtually laid the foundations of the Syrian Protestant College, later known as the American University of Beirut. Though religion was the cornerstone in the founding of the University, under the pressure of the local environment, its secular character was to be substituted for the religious one. The establishment of the University in 1866 marked the beginning of the system of higher education in the Arab world. As the first established institution of higher learning, the University played a significant role in raising the level of literacy throughout the region. Despite the difficult times that the University faced throughout its history, it survived and continued its dedicated mission to serve the people of Lebanon and the entire area. For the University, the first 50 years under Ottoman rule was a period of surviving and maintaining its existence. With the freedom it came to enjoy during the French Mandate and later during independence, the University moved into …

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Oklahoma natives and Southern Baptist missionaries Jim and Leola Ragland boarded a boat in the east Beirut harbor after more than three weeks of saying goodbyes to Lebanese friends and co-workers, both Christians and Muslims. "How do you walk away from somebody you've known for 30 years?" said Ragland, weeping. "The country needs us. The Lebanese need our school, our radio ministries, the books we're writing."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Jim and Leola Ragland, 33-year Southern Baptist missionaries, remembered difficult yet fulfilling times as they left Lebanon aboard a passenger ship headed to Cyprus in early March. The Raglands, founders of the Beirut Baptist School in west Beirut, were obeying a U.S. government order forcing all Americans out of Lebanon."

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Southern Baptist Missionaries Jim and Leola Ragland, shown here in a 1984 photo at the Beirut Baptist School, were having a daily devotional together when the news came that the U.S. government had ordered that all Americans leave Lebanon. Ragland, who is principal at the school, said "we just sat there and wept together ... a trying time for us." They hope peace is restored and that they will be able to go back someday. He is an Ada, Okla., native, and Mrs. Ragland is from Duncan."

The main objective of this research is to test some of the hypotheses linking economic development, social mobilization, legitimacy, and the coerciveness of the regime with internal political conflict. Each proposed hypothesis is to be tested across sixteen predominantly Islamic Middle Eastern nations for data from two time periods, 1960-66 and 1967-73. To check for the consistency and strength of the hypothesized relationships the test results for each hypothesis for the first period data will be compared with those of the second period.

This study was designed to determine (a) the extent of the coverage in total wordage; (b) the direction and intensity of the articles; and (c) the impression conveyed by each newspaper toward the two main parties of the war. The findings show that (a) The New York Times devoted nearly twice as many words to the war as The Times of London; (b) the majority of the articles were neutral; (c) The New York Times was more favorable to the leftists and was as favorable to the rightists as The Times of London; and (d) the two newspapers were consistent in direction, and all deviation from neutrality remained within the limits of mild intensity.