Word: heikal
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...revolution began in July of 1952, Heikal was with the leaders. "I drove [General Mohammed] Naguib to his command post," he told TIME Correspondent Lee Griggs. "Nasser was there. They had control of Cairo but were worrying about the rest of the country. It was a busy and exciting night." He has been Nasser's all but official press spokesman ever since...
Recognizing Heikal's influence, the controlling family of the highly influential but nearly bankrupt Al Ahram approached him in 1956 with an offer to run the paper. Within two years, with Nasser's support, he had put it in the black. Today its circulation approaches half a million and its plant is as luxurious and modern as any in the world, with British presses, West German engraving equipment, and a U.S. computer system that sets Arabic type by means of punched tape...
When a law was passed in 1960 putting papers under the jurisdiction of the Arab Socialist Union (Egypt's only political party), Heikal went straight to Nasser: "I got his assurance that, if we could grow, make money and not compromise the revolution, there would be no problem." Rarely has there been...
Nasser backs Heikal not only because they are friends but because the editor is also extremely useful to him. Even Heikal's occasional criticism of the regime-always within safe bounds -is of advantage to Nasser. It acts as a safety valve for popular grievances. Nasser himself has even planted criticisms of this or that functionary or institution with Heikal, then taken action under the guise of bowing to popular will. Heikal puts his influence to good use, battling the bureaucrats and campaigning for a freer press and civil liberties in a country that often views such activities...
...hour work day, Heikal heads home to a luxurious Cairo apartment to relax with his wife and three sons. His very presence makes the apartment building a coveted address because, says a Cairo diplomat, "everything works-or else." His comfortable existence is marred only by a thin shadow of danger. His outspokenness (some call it arrogance) has earned him enemies, and his survival-like his power-rests with a single man. "If Nasser ever goes," says one well-placed Egyptian, "Heikal had better be on the next plane out of the country...