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Gamel Abdel Nasser With Nikita Khrushchev During the Construction of the Aswan High Dam
Gamel Abdel Nasser was the leading figure of Arab Nationalism in the twentieth century. He is still beloved across the Arab world and beyond for his refusal to act in accordance with the wishes of Western powers. At the height of the Cold War, Nasser (as President of Egypt) refused to ally his country exclusively with either the United States and its allies or the Soviet Bloc, embarking on relationships with both sides of the Cold War divide as the needs of Egypt dictated.
This picture shows President Nasser with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at the Aswan High Dam. The dam was a special modernization project for Nasser’s government, which believed its construction would significantly increase the amount of farmable land in Egypt. Nasser’s refusal to align Egypt firmly and exclusively with the United States and its allies during the Cold War led the United States to block financing for the dam. This led Nasser’s government, in turn, to nationalize the Suez Canal.
Name: Nikita Khrushchev with Nasser
Material: Photograph
Size: 450 x 554 pixels (92 KB)
Date: Unknown
Place of Origin: Unknown
Location: Wikimedia Commons
Source and Registration#: Link to resource
(accessed April 30, 2010) from Link to resource
A. Holly Shissler
Associate Professor of Ottoman and Modern Turkish History, University of Chicago
Erin L. Glade
Ph.D. candidate, University of Chicago
