Word: sadat
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...Egypt," Sadat once wrote, "personalities are more important than programs." Nothing illustrated that point better than his own career. If his programs changed markedly over the years, he always pursued them with the relentless force of his own personality. Those who met him were usually dazzled by the charm, grace and warmth of his manner. Recalls former Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Yigael Yadin: "He immediately created a relationship of sincerity, friendship, frankness and warmth, and in this way he was like a member of the family...
...ready embrace and winning smile could also mask his inner thoughts. Says William Quandt, a former Middle East expert on the National Security Council: "Sadat was a hard man to read. He didn't always communicate what was on his mind so he would catch you by surprise." He could be intentionally devious on occasion. At the first Camp David session, Sadat read a list of hard-line demands that almost broke up the talks on the spot. His strategy, Quandt later concluded, "was to manufacture a crisis that would force the U.S. to step in and start offering proposals...
...spite of his seeming amiability, Sadat was not a gregarious man and had few intimate friends. One of them, wealthy Egyptian Contractor Osman Ahmed Osman, recalls that Sadat would remain with him "for two or three hours without saying a word, just chewing his pipe and thinking." A favorite Sadat pastime was a contemplative afternoon walk along the Nile near one of his ten residences...
...Sadat enjoyed the comforts and perquisites of his rank, but hardly to excess. Apart from a weakness for fine English suits and imported Dunhill pipe tobacco, his tastes and habits were simple. He usually ate only one light meal each day. A devout Muslim, he never drank wine or liquor. He liked to spend quiet evenings at home watching private movie screenings, usually of American westerns...
...workaholic, Sadat slept eight hours a night, rarely awoke before 9 a.m. and insisted on a three-hour nap each afternoon. He avoided paperwork, preferring to deal with the broad picture and leave the details to his subordinates. He was so averse to reading official documents that when Cyrus Vance brought him Jimmy Carter's invitation to Camp David, Sadat asked Vance to read it to him aloud...