Background
HATEM, Mohammed Abdel Kader was born in 1917 in Alexandria.
HATEM, Mohammed Abdel Kader was born in 1917 in Alexandria.
Educated at Cairo. Joined the Military College and was commissioned in 1939. University of London and Cairo.
After the 1939—1945 war he resumed his studies. In 1947 he graduated in political economy at London. In 1952 he emerged from the Chiefs of Staff College, Cairo, with an MSc degree in military science. lie matched it with an MSc in political science from Cairo University in 1954.
As one of the Free Officers he played a significant part in the publicity of the revolution on July 23, 1952, a role recognised by his appointment as presidential adviser on Press Affairs and as head of the Government’s Press Department. After a brief spell in intelligence he became Director-General of Information at the Ministry of National Guidance in 1955 and took charge of briefings and Press conferences during the Suez crisis in 1956. The following year he was sent on a special mission to London as .delegate to the Interparliamentary Union conference in September. The soundings he took led to negotiations between Britain and Egypt in Rome.
In December 1957 after election to the National Assembly he was appointed special adviser to the President. In December 1958 he was made Minister of State for Presidential Affairs. As Minister of State in the government in January 1959 he was made responsible for Press and radio. In 1962 he was appointed Minister of Culture and Information, a post he held until 1969.
He was promoted Deputy Prime Minister in 1965 with ministerial responsibility for National Guidance, Culture and Tourism. In 1967, when left-wing influence under Ali Sabri became increasingly strong, Hatem was deemed too right-wing and spent some time out of the limelight as Director of the Information Bureau to the Yemen.
After the arrest of Ali Sabri for alleged plotting and treason Sadat restored Hatem to the upper hierarchy as Deputy Prime Minister in April 1971. His enterprise in propaganda restored him as Minister of Culture and Information. When Sadat dismissed Sidki as Prime Minister in March 1973 and installed himself as Prime Minister, he promoted Hatem to be senior of the four deputy PMs and his stand-in.
Spokesman and propagandist of the revolution from the very outset in 1952, a man of many talents, not the least of which is a subtle skill in political survival. Trusted by President Sadat to the point of being declared acting Prime Minister to preside over cabinet meetings in Sadat’s absence. Equally trusted by Nasser in spite of periods when he was considered too much on the right wing to be given public prominence.
In the Suez War with Britain and France in 1956 and the Six-Day War with Israel in 1967 he was the harassed defender of Egyptian policy before the world’s Press. By July 30, 1972, he had developed the art of national guidance to the stage where he claimed there was no need for Press censorship inside Egypt “because editors knew their responsibilities”. Not a man of deep political convictions, he prefers purveying culture. It was largely due to him that the Tutankhamun treasures were allowed to go on exhibition to London and Paris.
Throughout his life, he wrote around 20 books.
National Assembly 1957. Of People's Assembly for Abdin Constituency 1979. General Secretary Arab Socialist Union.