University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, Sept. 29, 1970
Beloved, Controversial Leader
9
Coup Started Nasser's Rule
By United Press International
Press International Gamal Abdel Nasser was the son of a postal clerk. He also was easily the most beloved and controversial leader in the Arab world in the modern era.
He seized power in Egypt with an Army coup that toppled King Farouk on July 26, 1952. Nasser was a young army colonel at the time.
The immediate question raised by his death was who could take his place in Egypt and in the Arab world.
He did not immediately emerge as Egypt's leader after the military coup in 1952, but he was always the principal figure in the group of officers who overthrew the late King Farouk.
NASSER WAS Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior from 1953 to 1954 under Gen. Mohammed Naguib, who served as the first president after the coup.
"He was an apostle of revolution with a self-proclaimed mission to unite the Arab, African and Islamic nations under Egyptian leadership."
Nasser became president in 1956, the same year in which he nationalized the Suez Canal, seized Britain's Suez base and led Egypt's defense against an invasion by British, French and Israeli forces.
One of Nasser's great ambitions was the unity of the Arab world under his leadership. He realized this dream in the 1967 war against Israel, only to see the armies and air forces of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria defeated in a humiliating war in which the Israelis seized wide areas of all three nations.
Nasser's dream of Arab unity first crystallized in 1958 with the merger of Egypt and Syria into the United Arab Republic. He was elected the UAR's first president. Yemen subsequently joined the federation.
BUT THE MERGER was doomed by the differences which have always plagued the Arab world. The United Arab Republic as such collapsed in September, 1961, as the difference between the three nations outweighed their similarities. The name remained, however.
A big stumbling block to unity was always Nasser's belief in socialism. It kept him from close cooperation with Arab kings, particularly Jordan's Hussein, and King Faisal of Saudi Arabia.
Although the UAR failed in its original conception, Nasser himself triumphed. He was a hero to millions throughout Africa and Asia, an apostle of revolution with a self-proclaimed mission to unite the Arab, African and Islamic nations under Egyptian leadership.
MORE OFTEN than not he was the center of controversy—fighting British influence in the Middle East, talking of war with Israel and finally plunging into combat, waging war in Yemen and quarreling with the United States.
Nasser proclaimed himself a champion of nonalignment in the East-West power struggle. His goal was to keep the Arab world free of domination by either the Communist bloc or the West.
Since the 1967 Middle East War, the Soviet Union was Nasser's chief benefactor. He made visits to Moscow, not so much for medical treatment as to woo the Kremlin into parting with more arms and Russian manpower for the struggle against Israel.
Nasser's political outlook was somewhat left of center. His relations with the Communists were generally less rocky than with the West, which he identified with "imperialism and colonialism."
Nasser was a civilian king in the hearts of most Egyptians.
"A tall man with sparkling blue eyes and an infectious grin, Nasser was a civilian king in the hearts of most Egyptians."
Millions of Egyptian school children dutifully began their day by singing:
"Nasser, we all love you; Nasser
monopoly" of the West by acquiring Soviet arms.
We all cherish you, Nasser We all follow us
We all follow you, I am. You are loved by all. Nasser."
HIS 1952 revolution—as he never tired of telling audiences—swept a corrupt monarchy from power, got British troops out of Egypt and "broke the arms
At his death, he was graying at the temples and maintained an erect military bearing. He was as personally austere as he was politically flamboyant.
A devout Moslem, he carefully obeyed its rules of abstinence from alcohol, although he was a heavy smoker. He shunned the extravagant ways of the Egyptian monarchs he deposed and this was a strong reason for his immense personal popularity.
He and his wife kept their private life with their five children carefully private. He was a grandfather.
ALTHOUGH HIS political credo outside Egypt aimed for the destruction of Israel, Nasser at home opted for a socialist economy and promoted social reform and industrialization. He made dents, if not spectacular progress, in Egypt's ages-old poverty.
The 1956 Suez debacle, in which he survived a combined English, French, and Israeli invasion, was perhaps his most spectacular success. It was the event that catapulted him to world prominence. Suez became a symbol and rallying point for the "Third World" emerging nations in their drive toward independence.
In the 1967 War, the Suez Canal was Nasser's last battleground. His Egyptian forces backed by Soviet arms and manpower, held the West bank. On the East bank were the Israelis. On Aug. 7, he and Israeli Premier Golda Meir agreed to a 90-day cease-fire across the embattled waterway.
Suez was not his only moment of grandeur. Nasser ousted the corrupt kings, then oversaw the departure of British troops that had occupied Egypt for 74 years. When he signed an arms deal with Moscow, Egypt overnight became one of Africa's leading military powers.
WHEN THE WEST rebuffed his request for help in building the Aswan Dam on the Nile, he turned to the Kremlin. It was a major propaganda victory for the Russians. His nationalization of the Suez Canal was another popularity winner.
There were failures. Besides the disastrous 1967 Middle East War, when Nasser failed to make good on his threat to turn Israel into "seas of fire and rivers of blood," he saw the 1958 union with Syria collapse after three years.
Patronize Kansan Advertisers
SANTANA
On Columbia Records
$399
Records & Stereo Malls Shopping Ctr.
KIEF'S
Penguin is waiting at your campus bookstore with a wide selection of paperbacks—for supplementary classroom information and after-class reading enjoyment. Among the most recent titles:
SANITY, MADNESS AND THE FAMILY. R. D. Laing and A. Esterson. An enlightening new study of schizophrenia, and companion volume to The Divided Self. $1.45
THE AMERICAN INDIAN TODAY. Edited by Nancy O.
Lurie and Stuart Levine. A vital national problem explored
by thirteen Indian and white anthropologists and
educators. $1.95
THE PRACTICE OF ASTROLOGY. Dane Rudhyar.
A new step-by-step approach by one of the leading figures in international astrology $1.25
CONCENTRATION AND MEDITATION.
Christmas Humphreys. A progressive course in mind development — highest step on the path to supreme spiritual enlightenment according to Buddhist tradition. $1.45
ASIA: A HANDBOOK. Edited by Guy Wint. $2.95
WHOSE LAND? A History of the Peoples of Palestine.
James Parkes. A balanced historical perspective of the forces
at work in the current Palestinian dilemma. $1.95
SOVIET COMMUNISM AND AGRARIAN REVOLUTION.
Roy D. and Betty A. Laird. $1,25
PFNGUIN BOOKS INC
7110 Ambassador Rd. Baltimore, Md. 21207