ABD AL-NASSER, JAMAL(1918–1970)

ABD AL-NASSER, JAMAL(1918–1970)
The Egyptian leader who dominated two decades of Arabhistory, Jamal Abd al-Nasser was born 15 January 1918, theson of a postal official. Raised in Alexandria and Cairo, heentered the military academy and was commissioned in 1938.Thereafter, he joined a secret Muslim Brotherhood cell,where he met fellow dissidents with whom he later foundedthe Free Officers. On 23 July 1952 the Free Officers seizedpower; within a year they outlawed political parties andestablished a republic. In 1954, they dismissed the figureheadpresident Muhammad Najib (Naguib) and repressed all opposition.Elected president in June 1956, Nasser ruled untilhis death. Under his leadership Egypt remained a one-partystate. The ruling party changed names several times; the ArabSocialist Union, formed in 1962, survived until 1978 whenNasser’s successor, Anwar al-Sadat, abolished it.A charismatic leader, Nasser drew regional acclaim andinternational notoriety for his championship of pan-Arabismand his leadership role in the Non-Aligned Movement. Hispopularity soared during the 1956 Suez Crisis, sparked byEgypt’s nationalization of the Suez Canal Company. Thetripartite British-French-Israeli invasion failed to topple hisregime and solidified his reputation. Frustrated with the paceof social and economic reform, in the early 1960s Nasserpromoted a series of socialist decrees nationalizing key sectorsof industry, agriculture, finance, and the arts. Egypt’srelations with the Soviet bloc improved, but Nasser neverturned entirely away from the West. In regional affairs theyears after Suez were marked by a series of setbacks. TheUnited Arab Republic (1958–1961) ended with Syria’s cessation,and the Yemeni civil war (1962–1967) entangled Egyptiantroops in a quagmire.Many contend that Nasser never recovered from thedisastrous defeat by Israel in June 1967. Yet he changed theface of Egypt, erasing class privileges, narrowing social gaps,and ushering in an era of optimism. If Egyptians fault hisfailure to democratize and debate the wisdom of Arab socialismor the state’s secular orientation, many still recall hispopulist intentions. When he died suddenly of a heart attackon 28 September 1970, millions accompanied his coffin tothe grave.See also Nationalism: Arab; Pan-Arabism.BIBLIOGRAPHYGordon, Joel. Nasser’s Blessed Movement: Egypt’s Free Officersand the July Revolution. 2d ed. Cairo: American Universityin Cairo Press, 1996.Jankowski, James. Nasser’s Egypt, Arab Nationalism, and theUnited Arab Republic. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 2002.Joel Gordon