What Washington Might Have Done if Nasser Fell

Would the United States have accepted the invasion if Nasser had been toppled?

Probably. A quick change of government and international canal authority could have brought Washington behind the outcome.

The likely American response depended heavily on whether Nasser remained in power. A quick Egyptian coup and an international committee for the canal could have allowed Washington to support the result after the fact. The prospect of a prolonged occupation or quagmire made Eisenhower far less willing to associate the United States with the invasion. American opposition was conditional political risk management rather than automatic rejection of every Anglo-French objective.