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"Carter's penchant for prayer, so suspect in other climes, was a reassurance at this particular summit. Indeed, the bond of spirituality among those three men may have been the most important emotional conduit. None was embarrassed by the others' deep convictions.
"Flowing out of the spiritual bond was trust. Though there were some disagreements later, neither Sadat nor Begin came off the summit declaring that Carter had misled them, tried to mislead them or even, in innocence, misguided them. When Carter went to one of the visitors with the other one's proposal, the words and the spirit of the message were well transmitted. And at last, all that memo reading and all those briefings, which have bogged Carter down in other efforts, paid off. He did not have to call for his experts when the dealings got complicated. No aides had to be inserted between him and his visitors.
"When at last Vance turned to Carter and said, 'I think we now have it,' nobody cheered or said anything memorable. Everybody could feel what had happened even as a thunderstorm broke outside Aspen Lodge. Carter may never be able to duplicate it—but, again, he just might."