Cover boy 3

Now this is the third part from our trip with the time  magazine covers we started here and there . At trip with history,politics and Art .

We stopped at the year 1970 , an important year in the history of the Arab world not only Egypt when President Nasser suddenly died in a critical time , Israeli invasion for the Arab lands and a Palestinian-Jordanian mini war going on and one question "Who is going to fill Nasser's vacancy ??' Yes according to the fact President Nasser chose Anwar El-Sadat to be his first vice president beside another 2 vice presidents ,El-Sadat became the the third President to Egypt.President El-Sadat who had one hell of a history pre-1952 coup managed through the years after the coup to keep a low profile for himself and I guess it was a smart thing from him to do so because he realized that there would be a deadly conflict on the leadership in the revolution council .Keeping a low profile made him like a riddle inside and outside ,he was regarded as weak puppet in the hands of the centers of Power till he surprised the Egyptians and the whole world with his corrective revolution on the 15th of May 1971 to get rid from all those anti-Sadat and Pro-Soviet in a single move

The world especially the west did not understand the move or understand what policy Anwar El-Sadat would work with, he was the riddle of the middle East ,the Underrated Heir who proved to be above all the expectations

President El-Sadat made his first appearance on the cover of the time on the 17th of May 1971 , just two days after from the corrective movement he made . He was the third president and the fourth leader to appear on the cover of the time . That cover was very special , an illustration of Cartoon showing him like Sphinx in front of th pyramids , Sadat's head on the body of a lion and on the left side there was a ribbon written on it "The Middle east Riddle" , a very perfect cover to drew the attention of the reader who did not know who the Sadat was , a riddle that need to be understood in the middle east

After 3 years President Sadat appeared for the second time on June 24 ,1974 with Preisdent Nixon in  a photo from the huge public reception the first American President received in Cairo and I think it would be the last , Nixon was the first American president to visit Egypt,Cairo since the famous visit of Roosevelt to the Suez Canal and his meeting with king Farouk.Already that visit was a bright point in the life of Nixon , the Americans are officially back in the heart of the Arab world after years of Soviet domination ,regardless of the claims of the Nasserists and Egyptian Communists ,President Nixon was received by huge welcome of the Egyptian people for the fact that they got sick from the Soviets "With my all respect to the leftists ,history is history". The Cover was a photo taken by Michele Laurant

The following year Sadat appeared on the cover of the magazine for the third time on April 7th 1975 , this time he was not alone , he was with other leaders from kings,prime ministers and Presidents of the World ,the cover story , which was more a whole section was about America and the world , mostly about King Faisal who was killed that year ,his death was not an easy thing , President Sadat was mentioned in three articles in that issue , the first about the death of the Saudi King , the second was a short report about the relations between the Soviets and the Arabs specifically President Sadat who was still counting on their arms and the third which was the most important of them about the Kissigner negotiations between Egypt and Israel and what went wrong in it. Those who appeared on the cover beside Sadat King Faisal 'May Allah bless his soul', Kissinger,Rabin and Thieu of South Vietnam then.

President Sadat appeared again in the same year on the cover of the time on June 9th year 1975 , a very important year on all level , the beginning of the open doors policy , the relations with the Americans and also the relations with the soviets, the opening of Suez canal on the 5 th of June and surely the talks between Cairo and ... "The magazine wickedly used the word Jerusalem despite it was n't  and is not the capital of Israel yet" in brief it was one hell of watershed Week in Cairo . Another illustration for President Sadat , this time his face is well drawn in close up with the words "The Quest of Peace" Sadat was already for Peace but on what terms and how !!?? Sadat was the first Egyptian leader to appear twice in the same year till then ,that was the fourth time for him to be on the cover

Well year 1975 did not finish and President Sadat broke the record and appeared for the third time in the same year and the fifth in total on the cover of the magazine on August 25th in a very beautiful comic illustration by Jack Davis portraying Kissinger and a pigeon of Peace on his shoulder trying to make President Sadat and Rabin Shake hands , Sadat and Rabin both were wearing their military suites referring to their military background and rivalry and if you noticed Rabin got bandages over his hand and Sadat got a plaster on his forehead, both were skeptical while shaking the perfect illustration for a famous cartoonist to describe the cover story of Kissinger's visits between the two Countries to bring Peace in the middle east for the first time and the obstacles he was facing from both sides

After 2 years President Sadat made in August 8th 1977 it to the cover again for the sixth time ,yet this time he was not alone for the second time ,he was with other leaders from the world in a beautiful comic illustration , already he was not the center of the cover story that was represented graphically , the center of the cover story was President Jimmy Carter and his foreign policy in the Oval room dealing with the powers in the world and issues whether the Soviets or Europe or the middle east or Asia , it made him like Daniel in the den of the lions and that was the idea of the comic ,the foreign policies of the ex-Georgia Governor who was much less experienced in foreign affairs were under question, Carter came to a powerful world ,with powerful players in foreign policies who were like lions ,fierce lions whether West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt who described Carter as a faith healer or Egypt's President who looked in a Sphinx position for the second time , looking in a smart wicked way admired already the policy of Carter whom was called by an Egyptian official "An Arab more than the Arabs" and it seemed that it is true ,already Carter took a legacy from Kissinger that was the Peace talks between Arabs and Israelis especially with the arrival of Menachem Begin to power in Israel appearing less willing to comprise for Peace , he was another lion to be dealt with , of course those beside the two lions of the east U.S.S.R 'S Brezhnev and China's Hua Kuo-Feng

Two months Later President had to be on the time Cover again after his historical visit to Israel ,the historical visit was the cover story of the time November 28th 1977 , the sacred mission of President Sadat to return back the land and to bring Peace breaking the ice by himself,that was the seventh time and President Sadat broke the record

President Sadat appeared for the eigth time on 8th of January 1978  in the following year as the first President of Egypt to be chosen as Man of the year by the Time for the first and currently the last time as he was the architect of Peace in New the Middle east after his famous visit to Israel,an Illustration for the face of President Sadat, a perfect protait for his face by Audrey Flack. He made it again to the cover but not as the cover boy that year 1978, he appeared  again on March 20th in the same year in the right corner of the cover in an exclusive announcement that the Time would publish his memories "in search for identity" in English

And if you think that would be his last appearance on the time cover in that year , you are wrong because he appeared for the 9th time on the Time that year for the third time in the same year on September 25th, he appeared in another comic illustration face to face with Begin ,the way to Peace was not easy for sure and the two parties who started the negotiations on the 17 of September in Camp David had suffered during that time till they appeared on the screen of TV Shaking hands and signing the camp David accords which were backbones of a Peace treaty between Egypt and Israel , President Carter's vision of Peace came true,still the cover made them more like rivals not Peace partners , you can feel it

President Sadat after that did not appear on the cover of the magazine alive again , but as a dead man after three years in 1981 in one of the most beautiful illustrated cover of the time ever , Simple yet full of meaning , the cover of the issue published on October 19,1981 after his assassination on the 6th of October from the same year, his assassination was the topic of the wonderful illustration , his face in front and in the background what happened in the Sad parade , the last public army Parade Egypt has seen till ,the exact sequence of events as it was seen on TV ,the air fights , the military vehicle and the attack of the terrorists on the podium. inside the edition there were about 9 articles about him whether sadness about his loss as a man of Peace ,how he changed the history, his passion for Peace,the American grief on their Egyptian Friend , the concerns after his death and the faithful pupil who took his place with a short interview with Mubarak 48 hours after the incident of course that was beside the international reaction .That time was the 10th time

As I said that was the last time for him on the cover of the time Magazine Cover where he had appeared more than any previous or next Egyptian President , in total he appeared for 10 times from year 1971 to 1981 .He appeared Solo for five times and the other five he appeared with other leaders.Three of those covers were photographs where as the rest were illustrations.

President Sadat surely appeared all those times due to his role in the international Peace , what made him earn it and on the contrary of President Nasser he was a friend to the west yet not a weak ally but a powerful man who was ready for Peace on the basis of Land and Justice , President Sadat again was not a weak puppet like those Arab weak leaders from Presidents and Kings Now

Amazon.com: Anwar El Sadat: In Search of Identity an Autobiography: Books: Anwar Sadat ISBN: 0060137428 ISBN-13: 9780060137427

Technorati tags: Egypt, People, History, Anwar El-Sadat, Egyptian People, Time magazine, Begin, Carter, books, covers, illustrations, cartoon, arts, media, America, Rabin, ISrael, Politics, Peace, Camp David accords