The Wheel Of Fortune. Poem by Michael Walker
The Wheel Of Fortune.
In mid-June 1974 Richard Nixon flew to Cairo
for talks with President Anwar Sadat
to follow up the Golan Heights peace talks.
Nixon and Sadat traveled by train to Alexandria
cheered by enthusiastic crowds on the way,
some holding up 'We trust Nixon' banners.
The motorcade through Alexandria itself
was lined by cheering crowds in scenes
not unlike John F. Kennedy in Dallas.
Nixon and Sadat stood and waved to the people
from an open-top Lincoln convertible too.
Nixon and Sadat walked the Great Pyramids
before returning to Cairo and a trade agreement.
The people were out there again for Nixon's motorcade
to the airport: he stopped several times to work the crowd.
Then he took off for Saudi Arabia.
Nixon had only a few months left of his presidency,
which he had to resign before he was pushed.
In Egypt, Islamic fanatics did not like Sadat's peace outreach
to Israel, nor his signing of the Camp David Accords
with the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
The Accords were witnessed by Jimmy Carter.
In early October 1981, Sadat was assassinated by soldiers
who fired rifles from a truck. Then they ran towards the stand, shooting.
Sadat was in the stand watching a victory parade;
hit several times, he died of bullet wounds hours later.
Nixon attended Sadat's state funeral in Cairo.
Sadat had written and spoken his own epitaph:
' He has lived for peace: he has died for principles'.
(Anwar Sadat1918-1981) .
- 4 October,2019.
Sadat was a devout Muslim and he made many pilgrimages to Mecca.
Sadat's assassins were found guilty and executed. The Egypt Islamic jihad were responsible for the assassination, even though they may not have fired the rifles. Nixon attended Sadat's state funeral in Nasir City, Cairo.
Anwar Sadat, the third President of Egypt, becomes the hero of the poem. Your historic perception you have brilliantly expressed with sufficient information. This is an amazing poem shared.10
This is a poem about history, recent history. When I was younger, it was news and current affairs. Thanks for your comment.
A recounting of events that some have forgotten, and many never knew about. Well done, Michael! : -)
It was not all that long ago, though, for someone of my age. I saw TV news of the assassination, never forgot it.
Politics and mystery both are associated with much information and history. This poem is very brilliantly penned with relevant historic information. Thank you very much for sharing this.10
History was one of my favourite subjects at high school and it remains so. You are right: there is politics in history, but also mystery. Why was Sadat so keen on peace, even with the old enemy, Israel? Why did Nixon try to cover up the Watergate burglary and the break-in to Daniel Ellsberg's office. He did not need those illegal tactics at all and they cut short his presidency.
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5/23/2024 2:47:04 AM # 1.0.0.1119
This is an emotional piece of writing which unveils an era of statesmen leaders who had the guts to forget the past in order to build a peaceful and promising future for the world as a whole and for their own countrymen in particular. This poem presents a particular phase of history in the making.
It is indeed an emotional poem about Anwar Sadat, who did not deserve to be assassinated. A hero for peace. Thanks again.