Gamal Abdel Nasser

Nasser was an Egyptian military officer who led the 1952 revolution and introduced sweeping land reforms the next year. After surviving a 1954 assassination attempt by the Muslim Brotherhood, he cracked down hard on the group, sidelined President Mohamed Naguib, and took executive power—formally winning the presidency in June 1956. His stature soared across the Arab world after Suez, fueling calls for pan-Arab unity that briefly materialized as the United Arab Republic with Syria from 1958 to 1961. By 1962 he'd launched major socialist reforms and modernization drives, including the Aswan Dam…