Anwar Sadat

Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat – President of Egypt born on December 1918 – 6 October 1981 was the third President of Egypt, serving from 15 October 1970 until his assassination by fundamentalist army officers on 6 October 1981. In his eleven years as president, he changed Egypt’s direction, departing from some of the economic and political principles of Nasserism by re-instituting the multi-party system and launching the Infitah economic policy.
Sadat was a senior member of the Free Officers group that overthrew Farouk I in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 and a close confidant of President Gamal Abdul Nasser, whom he succeeded as President in 1970.
In 1973, Sadat, together with Syria, led Egypt into the Yom Kippur War with Israel, and succeeded in regaining parts of the Sinai Peninsula, which had been conquered by Israel during the Six-Day War. While the territorial gains of Egypt in this war were limited, Sadat’s initial victories eventually led to regaining and reopening the Suez canal, and both restored Egyptian morale and shook Israeli confidence in their military supremacy, laying the ground for a peace settlement several years later. For many years after, Sadat was known as the “Hero of the Crossing”.
On November 19, 1977 Sadat became the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel when he met with Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, and spoke before the Knesset in Jerusalem. He made the visit after receiving an invitation from Begin and sought a permanent peace settlement (much of the Arab world was outraged by the visit). In 1979, this resulted in the Camp David Peace Agreement, for which Sadat and Begin received the Nobel Peace Prize.
In September of 1981, Sadat cracked down on Muslim organizations and Coptic organizations, including student groups; the arrests totaled nearly 1600, earning worldwide condemnation for the extremity of his techniques. Meanwhile, internal support for Sadat disappeared under the pressure of an economic crisis and Sadat’s suppression of dissidents. On October 6, the month after the crackdown, Sadat was assassinated during a parade in Cairo by army members who were part of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization.
Sadat was married twice. He divorced Ehsan Madi to marry Jehan Raouf (Sadat), who was barely 16, on May 29, 1949. They had three daughters and one son.