He and Vance shook things up in a helpful way
After years of playing the indispensable intermediary in the Middle East, the U.S. seemed to be just another bystander during Anwar Sadat's sacred mission to Jerusalem. Nonetheless, concludes TIME Diplomatic Correspondent Strobe Talbott, the Carter Administration deserves credit for being a catalyst in the process leading up to the historic visit. Talbott's assessment:
No one in Washington could claim to have foreseen, much less suggested, Sadat's spectacular gesture. Word of his willingness to go to Jerusalem caught the Administration utterly by surprise. When Sadat stepped on the podium in the Knesset to deliver...