The Six Day War: A Fifty-Year Retrospective

Co-Presented by the Anti-Defamation League and the LBJ Presidential Library

The Six Day War was a watershed event with lasting implications for the Middle East, the Jewish community, and the world at large. The Six Day War: A Fifty-Year Retrospective examines the 
tensions which led to the outbreak of the conflict in June 1967, the American response by President Lyndon Johnson, and the impact still being felt today. 

Hear from top historians and scholars as well as former US officials who helped to shape US policy in the region.

Schedule

2-2:50 p.m.
Six Days that Shook the World: The War and How It Began

What long-term and immediate causes prompted the war? Could it have been avoided? What was the impact of the Cold War? These questions and others will be examined from the perspectives of Israelis, the Palestinians, and the wider Arab world.

Introductory Remarks: Lynda Johnson Robb

Panelists:

• Hussein Ibish, Senior Resident Scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute
• Dr. Anita Shapira, Professor Emerita, Tel Aviv University; Founder, Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies, Tel Aviv University
• Dr. Kenneth W. Stein, Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History, Political Science and Israeli Studies, Emory University

3-3:50 p.m.
Commander-In-Chief: LBJ and the American Response

With the outbreak of hostilities on June 5, 1967, President Lyndon Johnson was faced with a crisis to manage. Already consumed with the war in Vietnam, Johnson now had to prevent a direct confrontation with the Soviet Union, played out on the Israeli-Arab battlefield. What were his options and constraints?

Introductory Remarks: Luci Baines Johnson

Moderator: Deborah Lauter, Senior Vice President, Policy and Programs, ADL

Panelists:

• Joseph A. Califano Jr., President Johnson's Assistant for Domestic Affairs from 1965-1969
• Mark K. Updegrove, historian; author; CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum; and, former director of LBJ Presidential Library

4-5 p.m.
Lasting Affects: How the War Transformed the Middle East

The 1967 Six Day War altered the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East. Its aftermath has defined the contours of the Arab-Israeli conflict, inter-Arab politics, Israeli politics, and US relations with the region since. How has the outcome of the war shaped US diplomacy, the political landscape of the region, and efforts to resolve the Arab-Israeli and Israeli-Palestinian conflicts?

Moderator: Jane Eisner, Editor, The Forward

Panelists:

• Ambassador Dennis Ross, Counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
• Ambassador Itamar Rabinovich, Israel’s former Ambassador to the United States; Former Chief Negotiator with Syria; President of the Israel Institute; Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern History of Tel Aviv University; Distinguished Global Professor at NYU; and, Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

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