Bonds of a Very Small Club

By Hugh Sidey

The Presidency

The exclusive circle of world leaders has been momentarily broken. Those 25 or 30 men and women who preside over the larger powers have at once been shattered by Anwar Sadat's death, reminded of their own perishability and united in a singular way by the danger in which they all walk. The specter of death attends them all.

From Moscow to Ottawa to Tokyo, Sadat's murder has special meaning to those who lead. The most powerful among them know that they too could be snuffed out in a few seconds' time. There is no doubt of the genuine shock and grief felt by Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. Some of those who know Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev believe that even as his nation coolly looks for advantage in the tragedy, the old Communist, down deep and for a fleeting second, felt remorse that one of the club to which he belongs had been so brutalized.

Leading the major nations that determine history in our time there really are no Hitlers and Stalins, the barbaric killers. There are raging maniacs like Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, who may be used in the power game but will never be in the top clique. Even as the big ones elbow each other, even as they arm as adversaries, there is a feeling that these leaders want to serve their people, not themselves. That is a thin hope for civilization, and one message of Sadat's death.

Those in the leadership fraternity call themselves friends, but true friendship is rare. Always the interests of state must supersede any personal feelings. Whether as friends or adversaries they approach each other with heavy manipulative intentions. They want from each other. They are wary. Jerry Ford may have transcended this kind of calculation, and was a true friend of France's Valery Giscard d'Estaing and Canada's Pierre Trudeau. Honest and decent, Ford was special in his time, spared through Watergate the terrible ordeal of climbing to power and so spared the rituals of political calculation that can twist a man's nature.

The leaders banter about their airplanes and cars, but personal wealth is no longer part of the ruling equation, at least as it was centuries ago. The strongest bond is the shared burden of governing. At one juncture of the SALT I negotiations in Moscow nine years ago, to prove how difficult were Nixon's domestic problems with the treaty, Brezhnev was shown a secret cable from U.S. generals protesting the proposed agreement. Brezhnev smiled, and then whispered that he could show American negotiators almost identical dispatches from his own obstinate military men.

Throughout the postwar years the big leaders have had, according to former Secretary of State Dean Rusk, a code of civility. For all his tough words about U.S. foreign policy, Brezhnev has never personally savaged an American President. Lyndon Johnson once heard that his Undersecretary of State, George Ball, had disparaged Charles de Gaulle. L.B.J. called Ball up and told him to lay off.

Leaders contend in the world, but they rarely try to make internal political problems for the other fellow. New club members sometimes have to learn the rituals.

Ronald Reagan, who made some pointed remarks about the Soviet character in his first days, has quieted a bit. Reagan has upbraided Israeli policies but not Prime Minister Menachem Begin. There are fraternal proprieties.

They learn from each other. Carter was startled at Camp David by Sadat's open contempt for some of his fellow Arabs. He saw Sadat rise above the details of government, emerge from silence and isolation with a sweeping vision of peace. John Kennedy sensed De Gaulle's advantage over him because De Gaulle could understand English and Kennedy could not understand French. J.F.K. began secretly to study French.

Whether chosen by his people or by a political elite, each member of the club is remarkable in some way. Each is monomaniac to a point. But each knows his fragility, even as Sadat knew. As Harry Truman put it, "Many people are indispensable. No one is irreplaceable." So it will be this time as the grand lodge of the power wielders mourns, and then moves on.

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