CBS – At The Source – Gamal Abdel Nassar – August 24, 1961 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection
Perhaps a different world then, at least judging by those figures who played an active role in shaping the present and laying groundwork for the future in the world of 1961. Gamal Abdel Nassar was one of the two principal leaders, spanning Nasser’s presidency of Egypt from 1956 to his death in 1970. Nasser’s tenure as Egypt’s leader heralded a new period of modernization and socialist reform in Egypt, along with a staunch advocacy of pan-Arab nationalism (including a short-lived union with Syria), and developing world solidarity. His prestige in Egypt and throughout the Arab World soared in the wake of his nationalization of the Suez Canal Company in 1956, and Egypt’s political victory in the subsequent Suez Crisis, but was damaged badly by Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War.
On 22–26 July 1952, the Free Officers, a group of disaffected officers in the Egyptian army founded by Gamal Abdel Nasser and headed by General Muhammad Naguib, initiated the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 which overthrew King Farouk, whom the military blamed for Egypt’s poor performance in the 1948 war with Israel and lack of progress in fighting poverty, disease and illiteracy in Egypt. The monarchy of Egypt and Sudan was gone without “a voice” being “raised” in its favor. In the following two years, the Free Officers consolidated power. Popular expectations for immediate reforms led to the workers’ riots in Kafr Dawar on 12 August 1952, which resulted in two death sentences. Following a brief experiment with civilian rule, the Free Officers abrogated the 1953 constitution and declared Egypt a republic on 18 June 1953, Muhammad Naguib as Egypt’s first President. Within six months all civilian political parties were banned replaced by the “Liberation Rally” government party, the elites seeing a need for a “transitional authoritarianism” in light of Egypt’s poverty, illiteracy and lack of a large middle class.
This interview, conducted as part of At The Source, a series of interview programs from CBS News, Nassar is interviewed by Howard K. Smith and Eric Sevareid. The main topic has much to do with the growing anxiety and intensity over the situation in Berlin and fears a showdown between the Soviet Union and NAT could take place and the potential of Nassar and The United Arab Republic acting as go-betweens to avert an accelerated crisis.
The subject also shifts to what has been the ongoing crisis in the Middle-East – tensions between Israel and the Arab world in general.
The names and the faces have changed – but the crisis is forever, it seems. To be reminded of where we were on an international scale, have a listen to this interview with Gamal Abdel Nassar from August 24, 1961. Gives pause for thought and a realization that the adage about history and not learning from it is true.
