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Swallowing his pride, he flew off to Cairo, listened to Nasser explain how any war would mean Israel's destruction and signed a mutual-defense pact that put an Egyptian commander in charge of his army in the event of war. The pact improved his standing with the Arab left, but it alarmed the Israelis, who had always considered Hussein a moderate neighbor, as Arabs go, and even had some affection for him.
Within three days, Israel decided to go to war, and attacked Egypt and Syria. Israeli Premier Levi Eshkol sent Hussein frantic messages promising that Israel would not hit Jordan if it would keep out of the battle. But Hussein was trapped by his commitments, and his answer was an artillery barrage and an attack on Israel.
Unlike other Arab politicians—and most Egyptian generals—Hussein spent much of the war at the front. Bumping over fields and back roads in an open army Jeep, he raced from one unit to another urging his troops to hold their ground, several times came under fire from Israeli planes and ground forces. For three sleepless nights and days, he led the Arab Legion in the field, then returned sadly to Amman to announce that the Israelis had wiped out his air force and marched to the River Jordan, and that his men could fight no longer. Unshaven and hollow-eyed, he seemed a symbol of courage in the face of odds, and his stature among his fellow Arabs grew overnight. Even Nasser, who had recently called him "a traitor to the Arabs," went out of his way to praise him, and the Syrian regime abruptly stopped referring to him as the "Tom Thumb Tyrant."
Talent for Survival. Hussein from his youth has shown an extraordinary talent for survival. His grandfather, Emir Abdullah, was brought in from Mecca to be the first King of Trans-Jordan, one of the nations created when British Prime Minister Lloyd George carved up the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. Abdullah ruled for 30 years—long enough to annex the Arab half of Palestine when Israel was created. In 1951, on a visit to Jerusalem, he was shot down by a Palestinian assassin. Hussein, who was standing beside him, barely escaped: a bullet intended for the young prince ricocheted off a medal on his uniform.
At Abdullah's death, the throne was reluctantly passed to Hussein's father Talal, a hopeless schizophrenic. Talal lasted only eleven months before being packed off to exile in Turkey (where he often forgets that he was ever a King). On Aug. 11, 1952, while Hussein was vacationing with his mother in Switzerland, he received a cable from home. It was addressed to "His Majesty, King Hussein." He did not need to open it. "The title on the envelope told its story," he says. "The message inside was superfluous." At the age of 17, he became Jordan's third King.