Office of the Historian

194. Transcript of a Telephone Conversation Between President Carter and Egyptian President Sadat1

Washington, March 5, 1979, 10:54–11 a.m.

PARTICIPANTS

  • President Carter
  • President Sadat

Exchange of pleasantries.

President Carter: We are prepared to announce at 12:00 noon today.2

Sadat: Fine.

President Carter: What time do you want me to arrive?

Sadat: No later than 2:00 P.M.

President Carter: We will do that. I told Begin.3 He asked me to come to Jerusalem Saturday4 evening.

Sadat: Let’s wait. I want to show you the millions of Egypt.

President Carter: If we need more time we can arrange it then. In the meantime we will announce Saturday evening for Israel. Where would you prefer me to come, Ismailia or Cairo?

Sadat: Cairo. I am very, very excited. Will Rosalynn come?

President Carter: Rosalynn will come. My advance team will leave this afternoon.5

  1. Source: Carter Library, Plains File, President’s Personal Foreign Affairs File, Box 1, Egypt, 11/77–11/81. Confidential.↩
  2. The formal announcement of Carter’s trip to Egypt and Israel was read by Powell to assembled news correspondents on March 5. The full text of the statement is printed in Public Papers: Carter, 1979, Book I, p. 383.↩
  3. According to the President’s Daily Diary, Carter met with Begin from 10:10 a.m. to 10:20 a.m. on March 5 (Carter Library, Presidential Materials) No memorandum of conversation has been found. Brzezinski wrote in his memoirs that Carter telephoned him in his office shortly after 9 a.m. that morning and instructed him to bring Begin to the White House in order to inform him of his decision to go to the Middle East. (Brzezinski, Power and Principle, pp. 281–282)↩
  4. March 10.↩
  5. Brzezinski wrote in his memoirs that Carter had instructed him to leave for Cairo at midday on March 5 “so that Sadat would not do anything rash before the President’s scheduled arrival” on March 8. (Brzezinski, Power and Principle, p. 282)↩