DIPLOMACY: A Triumphant Middle East Hegira

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Later, Sadat brought on the dancing girls, including a spectacular performer known as the "Ambassadress of Love," who coaxed a smile out of the gloomy Kissinger by running her hand through his hair. At one point, she performed her sensual routine literally under Nixon's nose. Grinning with embarrassment, the President sat transfixed. When the entertainment finally ended at 2 a.m., Nixon was still ebullient from what he called his "most memorable day." With Sadat in tow, he bounded up to shake hands with the dancers and pose for pictures.

The next morning, Sadat loaded the Nixon entourage, which included 125 newsmen, aboard a special train and set out for Alexandria, 140 miles away, to show off his prize guests once again. The trip was vaguely reminiscent of an old-fashioned American whistle-stop campaign: the two men rode in an open-sided Victorian observation car in full view of some 2 million Egyptians, who cheered as the train moved up through the lush green fields of the Nile Delta.

Camels in Pink. Stationed along the right of way was TIME Correspondent Wilton Wynn. His report: "They came from miles around, walking or riding in donkey carts or buses or piled onto tractors, to wait for five or six hours in the merciless summer sun to get a look at Richard Nixon. In places where most of the people had never seen an American, they waved the Stars and Stripes, and little boys fought over photos of Nixon with Sadat. At the village of Itay el Barud, camels draped in pink silk carried huge pictures of the two Presidents.

"After so many years of feeling hostility in Egyptian villages, it was rare and pleasant for an American to be cheered while walking through the crowds. Each time I walked down the platform at Kafr el Zayyat, the people shouted: 'Ahlan wa Sahlan [welcome] to the American!' An Egyptian climbed down off the platform and crossed the tracks to give me a bottle of the local cola drink. The mayor said: 'We are giving our hearts to Nixon today because we believe he is a man we can trust.'

"During the long wait for the train, a cheerleader used the public address-system to teach the crowd to chant: 'Welcome Nixon, welcome Nixon, Sadat, Sadat.' When the train finally approached the station, the people in back pushed forward so hard that they nearly shoved those in front under the wheels. The band began to play with fury, and the chant 'Welcome Nixon!' split the air.

"But the train did not stop. The cheering crowds got only a flash of Richard Nixon waving from a long side window. He seemed to be grinning. Then he was gone, but the moment was enough. The Egyptians had seen the living proof of American interest in their land. Within a couple of hours, the peasants were back in the fields, following their blindfolded oxen as they trudged endlessly round and round to turn the waterwheels."