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Naguib, the figurehead of the RCC, was its first President. 118 In the same year Nasser

published his infamous book The Philosophy of the Revolution, a vade mecum for

young and aspiring Arab nationalists in the Middle East. In reality the publication

was an ‘adolescent document’ as Jean Lacatoure, the French historian described it.

It was made up of the memoirs and visions of this ambitious Egyptian military

officer. 119 Sir Anthony Parsons, Britain’s Political Agent in Bahrain from 1965 to

1969, commented on Nasser’s work, saying that it ‘must be either for children or for

foreigners with limited knowledge of Arabic’. 120 The publication prompted Sir

Anthony Nutting, the British Minister of State, to suggest to Nasser he avoid writing

any further books. 121 Eden, on the other hand, compared the work to ‘Hitler’s Mein

Kampf’. 122 According to Copeland’s assertion the actual author of Nasser’s book was

his friend, journalist, and historian Mohammed H Heikal. 123 The book was a means

for Nasser to introduce himself to Egyptians and the Arab World, preparing the way

for his takeover of power and the eclipse of Naguib.

July 1953 marked the start of the Cairo-based Sawut Al-Arab (Voice of the

Arabs) radio station broadcast to the Arab World. The Egyptian Ahmed Al-Saeed

was to become the leading voice of the network and its Director. He believed that

part of the purpose behind the station ‘was to inform Arabs of their own

governments’ sins’. The name, Sawut Al-Arab, was borrowed from a short broadcast

118 ‘Egypt Now a Republic; Naguib Her President’, New York Times, 19 June 1953, 1.
119 J. Lacatoure, Nasser, 145.
120 A. Parsons, They Say the Lion (London: 1986), 60.
121 A. Nutting, I Saw for Myself: The Aftermath of Suez, 95, hereafter The Aftermath of Suez.
122 A. Eden, The Memoirs of Sir Anthony Eden: Full Circle (London: 1960), 543, hereafter Full Circle.
123 Copeland, The Game of Nations, 65.

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