When the first American oil developers arrived in the Arabian Gulf in the late 1920s, they built on the work of other Americans in the region who predated their arrival by several decades. American Protestant missionaries, who arrived in the Arabian Gulf in 1889, had used various forms of technology to advance their primary goal: converting Arabian Muslims to Protestant Christianity. The missionaries’ primary tool in their conversion efforts was Western medicine, but they also relied on other forms of technology to achieve this goal. Although by and large, these missionaries failed in their attempt to convert Arabian Muslims to Christianity, as this paper demonstrates, American oil developers who followed on their footsteps adapted their methods – and their rhetoric – to assert their own power in the region to great effect, a strategy that resulted in the forging neo-imperial ties with countries such as Saudi Arabia. During and after World War II, as the United States government quickly understood the strategic value of the oil resources in the region, it too built on and adopted the strategy of missionaries and oil companies in relying on Western technology to reinforce American power, framing their role as one that would bring progress and modernity to the area. This paper examines the role that Western technology, in the forms of medicine, agriculture, and military weaponry and training, played in advancing American interests in Saudi Arabia in the period between 1889 and 1952, as differing groups of Americans helped develop the United States’ “special relationship” with the kingdom. It begins by analyzing the goals and methods of American missionaries belonging to the Reformed Church of America, then analyzes the cooperation between these missionaries and American oil developers, including the American oil company ARAMCO. It then analyzes how the U.S. government built on this effort by initiating agricultural and medical programs in the region, and later, supported multinational organizations such as the WHO, in their medical programs in Saudi Arabia. Finally, it also examines how the United States government instrumentalized its military weapons sales – and military training – to further consolidate its power in the kingdom during the early Cold War.