Sadat: The Village Elder

Even as a youth, Egypt's Anwar Sadat, 58, had an elevated sense of his own destiny. At 14, he fell into an irrigation canal near his home village of Mit Abu el Kom. Saved from drowning, he was asked what his last thought had been as he went under the water. The answer: "If I drown, Egypt will have lost Anwar Sadat."

Today, Sadat governs Egypt rather like the paternalistic elder of a maxi-village, which just happens to have 39 million people in it. Once regarded as an impetuous, dandified mediocrity, he has become more cautious since he succeeded Gamal Abdel Nasser as President in 1970. He usually makes decisions slowly but, as last week's events proved, he can make them very fast as well.

Sadat is a paradoxical mix of East and West. He likes English clothes and enjoys his presidential perquisites--including nine official residences, which he shares with his wife Jihan, 43. One of his homes is in Mit Abu el Kom. There he dons a peasant gallabiya to relax. He is as devout a Muslim as Israel's Begin is a Jew--his forehead bears a mark from touching it so often to the ground in prayer.

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