UA-R-GC-1914-01-01-1967-06-28_Page-004

- 4 - vacation." He gave his assurance that our Egyptian staff would be well taken care of and that the accounts had already been freed enough to pay Egyptian salaries. Dr. Saleh said that all that could be done to hold things together would be done. All institutional and private property had been locked and an inventory was about to take place. People in Cairo were uncertain as to the future. Dr. Bartlett interrupted his account to comment briefly upon the choice of Dr. Said. He said that if he had had any authority to choose an adminis­trator for the University. he could think of no one more suitable than Dr. Said. who had been Vice President of the American University in Cairo for one day. and was subsequently Minister of Higher Education. He is a close friend of Dr. Saleh, and he had recommended that Dr. Saleh succeed him as Vice President of AUC. On Friday night President Nasser made the speech in which he announced his retirement. Immediately afterwards, Alexandria was like a beehive. There was shouting outside the hotel, and someone checked to see that doors were locked. But the crowds were not concerned about the Americans. They were not aggressive;. it was more like excitement than hostility. The presence of buses and trucks suggested that there was some organization to the demonstration, but it was obviously more than a contrived public show of support. At 5:30 a.m. on Saturday. the staff left the hotel in the quiet of dawn under the protection of, and with transportation provided by. the security _. police. President Bartlett sensed the first sign of hostility from Egyptians when he arrived at the port. No one took suitcases from the bus and the staff themselves carried all baggage from the bus. What happened in the customs room has been widely publicized in the American press. An account in LIFE was possibly the worst