Christiane’s fight began in the late 1950s, after Egyptian President
Gamal Abdul Nasser announced the imminent construction of an enormous
new dam, aimed at providing enough water and electricity for Egypt’s
rapidly exploding population. But that achievement would come with a
horrendous price: more than twenty ancient temples would be swallowed up
in the dam’s floodwaters.
In 1960, Christiane embarked on a public relations blitz to inform
the world of the threat to the antiquities and to raise money to cover
the astronomical costs of their rescue. From the start, the campaign
faced herculean obstacles.
Most engineering experts believed that, no matter how
much money was poured into the project, the temples could not be moved
without irreparable damage. Of greatest concern were the majestic twin
temples of Abu Simbel, erected on a cliff overlooking the Nile by
Egypt’s most notable pharaoh, Rameses II.
Compounding the project’s uncertainty was strong anti-Nasser
sentiment throughout the West, which began with the 1952 military coup
that brought him to power and ended de facto British and French control
of Egypt. Nasser’s refusal to ally his country with non-Arab nations
and his acceptance of Soviet aid were particular sore points for Western
governments, including the Eisenhower administration, which not only
refused to support the salvage effort but actively tried to prevent it.
Without massive financial aid from Western countries, particularly
the United States, the project was doomed. Then, an unexpected savior,
Jacqueline Kennedy, appeared on the scene. Just a few months after her
husband became president in 1961, the new First Lady lobbied him to
reverse U.S. opposition. Thanks to her influence, President Kennedy, in
the nick of time, did indeed call on Congress to authorize enough money
to insure the rescue. Ultimately, some fifty nations joined the United
States in providing the more than $80 million needed, making the
operation the greatest example of international cultural cooperation the
world has ever known.
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