Nasser, the charismatic leader who had nationalized the Suez Canal and championed pan-Arab nationalism for eighteen years, collapsed after negotiating an end to fighting between Jordan and Palestinian militants. His death triggered an outpouring of public grief across the Arab world, with millions flooding Cairo's streets for his funeral, and opened the door for his vice president, Anwar Sadat, to take power and eventually pursue peace with Israel.
Nasser had spent the previous days at an emergency Arab League summit trying to broker peace in Jordan's brutal civil war, known as Black September, between King Hussein's forces and Palestinian fedayeen. Exhausted and suffering from diabetes and heart disease that he had concealed from the public for years, he returned to Cairo and collapsed the following day.
His funeral drew an estimated five to seven million mourners into the streets of Cairo, one of the largest funeral gatherings in human history, a testament to the almost messianic devotion he inspired as the face of Arab nationalism and dignity after colonial humiliation. Few observers at the time guessed that his relatively colorless vice president, Anwar Sadat, initially seen as a transitional figure, would go on to fight the 1973 war and then stun the world by making peace with Israel at Camp David - a reversal of Nasser's entire foreign policy that Nasser's death had made possible.
Key people: Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat