COMMENTS ON POLITICAL ATMOSPHERE/MOHAMMED NAGUIB/TOURISTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83-00423R000500280005-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 12, 1999
• Sequence Number: 5
• Content Type: REPORT

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1. "This season has been one of great contrast to a year ago. The fear
and tension of last season have seemed like an unreality, so different
.is the whole atmosphere and outlook in Egypt now. There is great
hope and expectation on the part of the masses of the people under
the new government. The spirit even pervades us and we too feel
that Egypt now has perhaps a better hope of improving the conditions
of life than at any time in her long history. Probably not the
smallest burden which the Premier, General Mohammed Naguib, has to
bear is the limitless expectation on the part of his lowliest country-
men that he can immediately disperse all their troubles and change
almost anything they may wish changed. Of course, hope and con-
fidence of this sort, while inspiring, are charged with the dangers
of impatience and hasty disappointment.
2. "General Naguib visited Luxor a couple of weeks ago and some of us
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Comments on Political Atmosphere/Mohammed Naguib/Tourists
had the opportunity to meet him. We were fortunate, for everyone
else wanted to do the same. Like almost everyone else we hoped
he would visit us, but this time. he was devoting his brief stay to
the schools, hospitals, churches and mosques. He made a special
point of visiting the Coptic church and the American Mission School
for Girls in Luxor. He does not miss an opportunity to state and
act on his belief that 'All are Egyptians regardless of religious
faith or other circumstances.'
"Aufnber of small incidents occurred during the General's visit
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a*an he is. Perhaps to Americans who recently passed through a
residential campaign, they may sound like usual bits of business
from that show, but I can assure you they are very unusual and full
of meaning here. They are incidents the people like to hear and
tell about.
4. "There was the occasion on the evening of his arrival in Luxor when
the General had finished a brief address from the veranda of the
Winter Palace Hotel for which it seemed all of Luxor had turned out.
The crowd had been asked to make way for him to get to his ear but
no one had moved. An officer at his side threatened to order the
police to disperse the crowd forcibly, but the General reprimanded
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him, 'No, do not send the police. Let the people do as they wish.'
A way was promptly and voluntarily made for him. Next day in the
course of his tour of the town there was a commotion in the crowd
that had gathered at one point. The police was restraining a woman
of lowly status who was wildly trying to get to him. When he saw
what the trouble was he asked that she be permitted to come. She
came in a burst and threw her arms about him. He asked what she
wanted and she replied, 'Please lower the prices of flour and sugar.'
With his diffident smile the General promised to do what he could.
The prices of essential commodities had been lowered last fall and
retail markups on all goods limited.
5. "Another incident related Jby a friend in Luxor points up one
of the phenomena which always attend revolutions in government.
When the General visited a boys' school my friend's young son was
chosen to come forward and exhibit his abilities by writing in the
General's presence a letter of appreciation on behalf of the school.
When he had begun to write the General jocosely interrupted him with
the query, 'Wait, you little rascal. Are you writing another complaint
to me?' He receives hundreds of complaints a day, worthy and unworthy,
by mail and telegraph, and'they are turned over to the competent
agencies for investigation?' Sometimes they are a help in rooting out
injustices and corrupt practices and officials, but very often they
represent the attempt on the part of someone to get a knife into a
personal enemy. Although I have been the target of a few complaints
owing to the inflated ideas of our workmen, led by a malcontent,
about what they could demand and get, I have been backed and helped
by the harassed men of the regional labor office after they had made
their investigation. The campaign to rid the government of corruption
seems to be making headway and has thrown a salutary fear into many
corners, but not a small part of its larger effectiveness is due to
the moral tone lent to government service by the General himself who
quite obviously, even to his opponents,, wants nothing for himself
except the betterment of his country and the life of its people.
6. "This has been a good tourist year in Egypt. It seemed even late in
the season that it would be a poor one owing to fear engendered by
the Cairo riots of a year ago. However, the word got around that
conditions were better than ever and people came from Europe and
America. The situation was reflected and continues to be in the
length of the list of callers who signed our guest book. Apart from
the casual callers, thirty-six persons not of the regular staff have
stayed at the house for varying lengths of time between November 17th
and April 10th. They came from the US, England, Germany, Belgium,
Canada and Australia. Most were Egyptologists going about their work
or orientalists acquainting themselves with the monuments."
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