Mohamed Naguib (June 1953 – November 1954) Egypt's first president after the fall of the monarchy in the wake of the 1952 Revolution, Major-General Mohamed Naguib, one of the 1952 Revolution's leaders, was installed as president as well as prime minister alongside his roles as Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) chairman and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces in June 1953, when Egypt was declared as a republic. It was Naguib who went to Alexandria to demand former king Farouk's abdication before he was permitted to sail for Italy on the royal yacht. Gamal Abdel-Nasser, founder of the Free Officer's Movement that led the revolution, was the vice-chairman of the RCC and became deputy prime minister and minister of the interior, preferring to work in the background at the time. Naguib soon began to clash with the other RCC members, led by Nasser, over the revolution's goals and how to implement them. In February 1953, he submitted his resignation to the RCC before its other members released a statement saying they had removed him from his position because he had asked for “dictatorial powers”. The next day, mass protests broke out against the decision, leading the RCC to issue a statement reappointing Naguib as president, but this time more of a figurehead with the title being largely ceremonial. On 14 November 1954, the RCC decided to remove him as president, placing him for the next 30 years under house arrest before he was released in 1974 by the then president Anwar Al-Sadat. Naguib died in August 1984 at the age of 83.
Gamal Abdel-Nasser (November 1954 – September 1970) Following a 1954 Muslim Brotherhood-led attempt on his life, Gamal Abdel-Nasser ordered a crackdown on the organisation, put the then president Mohamed Naguib under house arrest, and assumed executive office. A June 1956 referendum approved both the new constitution, the first constitution of the revolution, and Nasser's appointment to the presidency. Nasser's neutralist policies during the Cold War led to tense relations with the western powers, which withdrew their funding for the planned Aswan High Dam. Nasser's retaliatory move to nationalise the Suez Canal Company in 1956 was acclaimed within Egypt and the Arab world, but Britain, France and Israel then occupied the Sinai Peninsula, later withdrawing amid international pressure and boosting Nasser's political standing significantly. From then on, Nasser's popularity in the region grew substantially and calls for pan-Arab unity under his leadership increased, culminating in the formation of the United Arab Republic with Syria (1958–1961). In the 1960s, Nasser began a series of major socialist measures and modernisation reforms in Egypt and also introduced far-reaching land reforms. Despite setbacks to his pan-Arab cause, by 1963 Nasser's supporters had gained power in several Arab countries. He became embroiled in the civil war in Yemen and introduced a new constitution in 1964. Nasser began his second presidential term in March 1965 after his political opponents had been banned from running. Following Egypt's defeat by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, Nasser resigned, only to reassume office after popular demonstrations had called for his reinstatement. Between the 1967 defeat and 1968, Nasser appointed himself prime minister, launched campaigns to regain Egypt's lost territory, began a process of depoliticising the military, and issued a set of political liberalisation reforms. After wrapping up the 1970 Arab League summit, Nasser suffered a heart attack and died in September of the same year.
Anwar Al-Sadat (October 1970 – October 1981) Anwar Al-Sadat was a senior member of the Free Officers who overthrew king Farouk in the 1952 Revolution and a close confidant of Gamal Abdel-Nasser, under whom he served as vice-president. In his eleven years as president, Sadat changed Egypt's trajectory, departing from many of the political and economic tenets of Nasserism, re-instituting a multi-party system, and launching free-market economic policies. Feeling that the then Soviet Union was giving him inadequate support in Egypt's continuing confrontation with Israel, Sadat expelled thousands of Soviet technicians and advisers from the country in 1972. Egyptian peace overtures towards Israel were initiated early in his presidency, when he made known his willingness to reach a peaceful settlement if Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula (captured in the June [Six-Day] War of 1967). Following the failure of this initiative, Al-Sadat launched a military attack in coordination with Syria to retake the territory, sparking the October War of 1973. The Egyptian army achieved a tactical surprise in its attack on the Israeli-held territory, and Sadat became the first Arab leader to have retaken territory from Israel. He then engaged in negotiations with Israel, culminating in the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty that won him and the then Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin the Nobel Peace Prize. Under their leadership, Egypt and Israel made peace with each other in 1979. Though reactions to the treaty, which resulted in the return of Sinai to Egypt, were generally favourable among Egyptians, the Arab world with the exception of Sudan opposed Sadat's efforts to make a separate peace with Israel without prior consultations with the Arab states. His refusal to reconcile himself with them over the Palestinian issue resulted in Egypt being suspended from the Arab League from 1979 to 1989. The last months of Sadat's presidency were marked by internal issues. Sadat dismissed allegations that rioting in the country had been caused by domestic issues, believing that the Soviet Union had been recruiting its regional allies in Libya and Syria to incite an uprising that would eventually force him from power. Following a failed military coup in June 1981, Sadat ordered a major crackdown that resulted in the arrest of numerous opposition figures. On 6 October 1981, Sadat was assassinated by fundamentalist army officers during the annual victory parade held in Cairo's Nasr City district to commemorate the October 1973 war.
Hosni Mubarak (October 1981 – February 2011) Hosni Mubarak was appointed vice-president of Egypt in 1975 and assumed the presidency on 14 October 1981 following the assassination of Sadat. His almost 30-year presidency made him Egypt's longest-serving ruler since Mohamed Ali Pasha, who had ruled the country from 1805 to 1848. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was an army officer in the Egyptian Air Force, serving as its commander from 1972 to 1975 and rising to the rank of air chief marshal. When Mubarak assumed power, Egypt was isolated from the other Arab and Muslim countries, many of whom had broken off diplomatic ties after Sadat had signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. Mubarak's first foreign policy mandate was to bring the country back into the Arab fold and to resume ties with the major players in the region. By the time the Iran-Iraq War ended in 1988, Egypt had successfully emerged from its isolation. In 1990, in a move spearheaded by Iraq and Yemen, the Arab League headquarters were returned to Cairo. Under Mubarak's rule, Egypt's military and logistical role in the US-led coalition during the First Gulf War earned it Washington's favour, which in turn pressured the G8 countries to write off much of Cairo's foreign debt. As a result of Mubarak's liberal economic policies, business in Egypt experienced an unprecedented boom, most notably in the real estate sector. However, the country was still plagued by rampant unemployment, with millions living in poverty. The 1990s saw an increase in US financial aid to Egypt and revived US-Egyptian strategic talks. These resulted in a strategic alliance between the two countries and the implementation of the US-Egypt Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement. In February 2005, Mubarak called on parliament to amend article 76 of the constitution to allow multiple candidates to run in the elections scheduled for later that year. However, opposition groups said that the reforms imposed new restrictions on independent presidential candidates not fielded by the then ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). The social dichotomy in Egypt under Mubarak's rule exacerbated criticisms that Mubarak, and his son Gamal, had favoured a group of businessmen within the ruling Party. He stepped down on February 11, 2011, after the 25 January 2011 Revolution aimed at removing him from power. Omar Suleiman, the country's then newly appointed vice-president, announced the move in a brief statement on state television, hours after Mubarak had been reported to have left the capital for the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Mohamed Morsi (July 2012 – July 2013) Mohamed Morsi was the first democratically elected president of Egypt. Although his predecessors also held elections, these were generally marred by irregularities and allegations of rigging. A strict Islamist educated in southern California, Morsi, leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was elected Egypt's president in June 2012. He inherited a huge public debt and the legacy of 30 years of corruption under former president Mubarak. Dissatisfaction with economic conditions in the country was already high. In August 2012, Morsi moved against the military leadership, sending into retirement Field-Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who, as chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), had acted as the country's de facto ruler in the wake of Mubarak's ouster and prior to Morsi's election. A few months later, in November, he issued an edict declaring his decisions immune from judicial review until the holding of a constitutional referendum. He also sacked the head of the judiciary. The opposition saw these moves as a grab for dictatorial power and poured into the streets, converting Cairo's Tahrir Square back into the centre of public discontent it had been during the uprising that had brought down Mubarak. Critics say that Morsi had become increasingly authoritarian and had forced through a conservative agenda during his year in power. He was also blamed for failing to revive Egypt's economy, which crashed when the 2011 uprising drove visitors away. He was accused of seeking the division of Egyptian territory for the benefit of foreign agendas. Morsi was ousted by the army after the 30 June Revolution. The military's intervention followed days of opposition protests, during which millions massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square and elsewhere to demand that he step down or call for fresh presidential elections, or face a campaign of civil disobedience. The news of Morsi's downfall prompted further mass street demonstrations, with both his opponents and his supporters turning out to celebrate, or protest against, his ouster.
