July 15, 1958
US President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorized Operation Blue Bat, the first application of the Eisenhower Doctrine under which the U.S. announced that it would intervene to protect regimes it considered threatened by international communism. The goal was to bolster the Christian, pro-Western Lebanese government of President Camille Chamoun against internal opposition and threats from Syria and Egypt. Approximately 14,000 men were deployed. The U.S. withdrew its forces on October 25, 1958.
