"Henry Alfred Kissinger," said TIME in our first cover story on him five years ago, "is not exactly a household name." Since that issue (Feb. 14, 1969), we have published nine other cover stories on him, more than on any other man except Presidents Eisenhower, Johnson and Nixon and France's Charles de Gaulle. Kissinger has appeared as a member of "Nixon's Palace Guard" (June 8, 1970), "Nixon's Secret Agent" (Feb. 7, 1972), Man of the Year (with Nixon, Jan. 1, 1973) and, on his elevation to Cabinet rank, "The Super Secretary" (Sept. 3, 1973). Just two months ago (April 1), he was pictured as "The Great Kissinger," a magician conjuring up a dove of peace. "[He] has done the seemingly miraculous for so long," TIME wrote, "that it has become almost routine." Yet his hardest task still lay ahead, and last week it was far from certain that it could be accomplished. Then, confirming the view of himself as the consummate political prestidigitator, the Secretary of State reached into the hat for the most elusive dove of all: the Israeli-Syrian settlement that is the "Mideast Miracle" of our cover.

The news broke in midweek, calling for quick action on the part of TIME'S twelve correspondents and photographers stationed in the Middle East. In Israel, Photographer David Rubinger took color pictures of Premier Golda Meir's jubilant announcement of the troop disengagement, but the event occurred too late to chance sending the film to New York by normal commercial air express. At 1 a.m., Thursday, Rubinger's wife Anni, herself a professional photographer, was dispatched as a courier, and by that afternoon she was in TIME'S Manhattan offices with the pictures.

Meanwhile, a weary State Department correspondent, John Mulliken, who traveled 24,230 miles with the Secretary over 34 days, wrote -- on the plane back to Washington -- a detailed report on Kissinger's feat and the outlook for the Geneva negotiations. In New York, Reporter-Researchers Sara Medina and Susan Reed gathered background material and geared up for a fast job of fact checking. Associate Editor Spencer Davidson, one of TIME'S most experienced Middle East hands with nine previous Middle East covers to his credit, wrote the story. A graduate of Baltimore's Loyola College, Davidson reported on metropolitan affairs for the Baltimore Sun before coming to TIME in 1956. After stints as a Nation and Business writer and Atlanta bureau chief, he joined the World section in 1968. Last year he filled in for seven months as Beirut bureau chief. "Having been in the Middle East," he says, "and sensing the utter difficulty of getting Arabs and Israelis together, I realize the really incredible gap Kissinger has bridged. It's fantastic, and I'm more delighted than I can say."

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