Anwar Sadat until 1989). The improved relations Egypt gained with the West through the Camp David Accords soon gave the country resilient economic growth. By 1980, however, Egypt's strained relations with the Arab World would result in a period of rapid inflation. The relationship between Iran and Egypt had fallen into open hostility during Gamal Abdel Nasser's presidency. Following his death in 1970, President Sadat turned this around quickly into an open and close friendship. In 1971, Sadat addressed the Iranian parliament in Tehran in fluent Persian, describing the 2,500-year-old historic connection between the two lands. Overnight, the Egyptian and Iranian governments
VC-137C SAM 26000 wanted to join in—40,000 people paid their respects when the former president lay in state, even though the mood during the state funeral was one of intense recrimination because the wounds of the Vietnam War were still raw. Because of SAM 26000, the final services honoring LBJ on January 25 were completed in one day, despite taking place in different parts of the country. On October 6, 1981, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated. Because of security concerns, then-President Ronald Reagan did not attend the funeral. Instead, he sent Secretary of State Alexander Haig and the living former presidents—Nixon, Ford,