I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 754 

To award the Congressional Gold Medal to Anwar Sadat in recognition 

of his heroic achievements and courageous contributions to peace in 

the Middle East. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 31, 2017 

Mr. STEWART (for himself and Ms. MENG) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award the Congressional Gold Medal to Anwar Sadat 

in recognition of his heroic achievements and courageous 

contributions to peace in the Middle East. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Anwar Sadat Centen5 nial Celebration Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Anwar Sadat was born on December 25, 

2 1918, in Mit Abu al-Kum, al-Minufiyah, Egypt, as 

3 1 of 13 children in a poor Egyptian family. 

4 (2) In 1938, Sadat graduated from the Royal 

5 Military Academy in Cairo and was appointed to the 

6 Signal Corps. 

7 (3) Sadat entered the Army as a second lieuten8 ant and was posted to Sudan where he met Gamal 

9 Abdel Nasser and fellow junior officers who became 

10 the ‘‘Free Officers’’ who led the Egyptian revolution 

11 of 1952. 

12 (4) Sadat held various high positions during 

13 Nasser’s presidency, assuming the role of President 

14 of the National Assembly in 1960 and Vice Presi15 dent in 1964. 

16 (5) President Nasser died of a heart attack on 

17 September 28, 1970, at which point Sadat became 

18 acting President. Sadat was subsequently elected as 

19 the third President of Egypt. 

20 (6) On October 6, 1973, President Sadat, along 

21 with his Syrian counterparts, launched an offensive 

22 against Israel. A permanent cease-fire was reached 

23 on October 25, 1973. 

24 (7) In 1974, after talks facilitated by Secretary 

25 of State Henry Kissinger, Egypt and Israel signed 


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1 an agreement allowing Egypt to formally retrieve 

2 land in the Sinai. President Sadat later wrote in his 

3 memoirs that his meetings with Kissinger ‘‘marked 

4 the beginning of a relationship of mutual under5 standing with the United States culminating and 

6 crystallizing in what we came to describe as a ‘peace 

7 process’. Together we started that process and the 

8 United States still supports our joint efforts to this 

9 day’’. 

10 (8) Months of diplomacy between Egypt and 

11 Israel followed the signing of this initial agreement 

12 and a second disengagement agreement, the Sinai 

13 Interim Agreement, was signed in September of 

14 1975. 

15 (9) President Sadat addressed a joint session of 

16 Congress on November 5, 1975, during which he un17 derscored the shared values between the United 

18 States and Egypt. In this speech, President Sadat 

19 addressed the path to peace, saying, ‘‘We are faced, 

20 together with other nations, with one of the greatest 

21 challenges of our time, namely the task of convincing 

22 this generation, and those to follow, that we can fi23 nally build a viable international system capable of 

24 meeting the demands of tomorrow and solving the 

25 problems of the coming age’’. 


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1 (10) On November 19, 1977, President Sadat 

2 became the first Arab leader to visit Israel, meeting 

3 with the Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin. 

4 President Sadat spoke before the Israeli Knesset in 

5 Jerusalem about his views on how to achieve com6 prehensive peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict. 

7 (11) Before commencing negotiations, President 

8 Sadat courageously announced to the Knesset, ‘‘I 

9 have come to you so that together we might build a 

10 durable peace based on justice, to avoid the shedding 

11 of 1 single drop of blood from an Arab or an Israeli. 

12 It is for this reason that I have proclaimed my read13 iness to go to the farthest corner of the world’’. 

14 President Sadat further poignantly stated that ‘‘any 

15 life lost in war is a human life, irrespective of its 

16 being that of an Israeli or an Arab. . . . When the 

17 bells of peace ring, there will be no hands to beat 

18 the drums of war’’. 

19 (12) On September 17, 1978, President Jimmy 

20 Carter hosted President Sadat and Prime Minister 

21 Begin at Camp David where the 3 leaders engaged 

22 in 13 days of negotiations that resulted in the 

23 ‘‘Framework for Peace in the Middle East’’ (com24 monly known as the ‘‘Camp David Accords’’). 


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1 (13) Following negotiations, President Sadat 

2 and Prime Minister Begin signed the Egypt-Israel 

3 Peace Treaty (in this section referred to as the 

4 ‘‘Peace Treaty’’) at the White House on March 26, 

5 1979. Addressing President Sadat at the signing of 

6 the Peace Treaty, which remains an important an7 chor for peace in the region today, Prime Minister 

8 Begin commended President Sadat by saying, ‘‘In 

9 the face of adversity and hostility, you have dem10 onstrated the human value that can change his11 tory—civil courage’’. 

12 (14) The Peace Treaty featured mutual rec13 ognition of each country by the other and ultimately 

14 the cessation of the state of war that had existed be15 tween Israel and Egypt since the 1948 Arab-Israeli 

16 War. Israel completely withdrew its armed forces 

17 and civilians from the rest of the Sinai. 

18 (15) In 1978, both President Sadat and Prime 

19 Minister Begin were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 

20 for signing the Peace Treaty, which made Egypt the 

21 first Arab country to officially recognize Israel. 

22 (16) While presenting the Nobel Peace Prize to 

23 President Sadat, Aase Lionaes, Chairman of the 

24 Norwegian Nobel Committee, said, ‘‘During the 30 

25 preceding years, the peoples of the Middle East 


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1 have, on 4 separate occasions, been the victims of 

2 warfare and there seemed no prospect of peace. 

3 President Sadat’s great contribution to peace was 

4 that he had sufficient courage and foresight to break 

5 away from this vicious circle. His decision to accept 

6 Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s invitation of No7 vember 17, 1977, to attend a meeting of the Israeli 

8 parliament on November 19 was an act of great 

9 courage, both from a personal and from a political 

10 point of view. This was a dramatic break with the 

11 past and a courageous step forward into a new age’’. 

12 (17) During his Nobel lecture, President Sadat 

13 remarked, ‘‘I made my trip because I am convinced 

14 that we owe it to this generation and the generations 

15 to come not to leave a stone unturned in our pursuit 

16 of peace’’. 

17 (18) In remarks to the People’s Assembly in 

18 Cairo on March 10, 1979, President Carter praised 

19 President Sadat, telling the Assembly, ‘‘Your Presi20 dent has demonstrated the power of human courage 

21 and human vision to create hope where there had 

22 been only despair.’’. President Carter also said that 

23 the Peace Treaty would ‘‘strengthen cooperation be24 tween Egypt and the United States’’ and under25 scored the support of the United States for the 


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1 agreement, saying, ‘‘I fully share and will support 

2 President Sadat’s belief that stability must be main3 tained in this part of the world . . . He and I recog4 nize that the security of this vital region is being 

5 challenged. I applaud his determination to meet that 

6 challenge, and my Government will stand with him’’. 

7 (19) The signing of the Peace Treaty enraged 

8 many individuals who opposed normalized relations 

9 with Israel. President Sadat was assassinated on Oc10 tober 6, 1981, by Khalid Islambouli, a member of 

11 Egyptian Islamic Jihad. President Sadat was well 

12 aware of the controversy to which his actions would 

13 lead, but pushed for peace anyway. 

14 (20) Upon the death of President Sadat, Presi15 dent Ronald Reagan proclaimed, ‘‘President Sadat 

16 was a courageous man whose vision and wisdom 

17 brought nations and people together. In a world 

18 filled with hatred, he was a man of hope. In a world 

19 trapped in the animosities of the past, he was a man 

20 of foresight, a man who sought to improve a world 

21 tormented by malice and pettiness’’. 

22 (21) President Sadat is recognized in the 

23 United States and throughout the world as a re24 spected leader and champion of peace whose vision 

25 provided a roadmap for the peaceful resolution of 


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1 conflict that endures nearly 40 years after its incep2 tion. 

3 (22) President Sadat bravely reached out to 

4 Israel and dedicated himself to peace, furthering the 

5 national security of Egypt and the stability of the 

6 Middle East. 

7 (23) On the 30th anniversary of the Peace 

8 Treaty, President Barack Obama praised the endur9 ing legacy of the Camp David Accords and the 

10 ‘‘courage and foresight of these leaders, who stood 

11 together in unity to change the course of our shared 

12 history’’. President Obama closed by saying, 

13 ‘‘Today, as we seek to expand the circle of peace 

14 among Arabs and Israelis, we take inspiration from 

15 what Israel and Egypt achieved 3 decades ago, 

16 knowing that the destination is worthy of the strug17 gle’’. 

18 (24) The Camp David Accords and the Peace 

19 Treaty continue to serve the interests of the United 

20 States by preserving peace and serving as a founda21 tion for partnership and dialogue in a region fraught 

22 with conflict and division. 

23 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

24 (a) AWARD AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 

25 House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 


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1 of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 

2 posthumous award, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal 

3 of appropriate design to Anwar Sadat in recognition of 

4 his achievements and heroic actions to attain comprehen5 sive peace in the Middle East. 

6 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purpose of the 

7 award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the 

8 Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall 

9 strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and 

10 inscriptions to be determined by the Secretary. 

11 (c) PRESENTATION.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The gold medal referred to 

13 in subsection (a) shall be presented to— 

14 (A)(i) the widow of Anwar Sadat, Jehan 

15 Sadat; or 

16 (ii) if Jehan Sadat is unavailable, the next 

17 of kin of Jehan Sadat; and 

18 (B) a representative of the Government of 

19 Egypt. 

20 (2) AWARD OF MEDAL.—Following the presen21 tation described in paragraph (1), the gold medal 

22 shall be given to— 

23 (A) Jehan Sadat; or 

24 (B) if Jehan Sadat is unavailable, the next 

25 of kin of Jehan Sadat. 


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1 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

2 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

3 bronze of the gold medal struck under section 3 under 

4 such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at a price 

5 sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, mate6 rials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, and 

7 the cost of the gold medal. 

8 SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

9 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck under 

10 this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 

11 of title 31, United States Code. 

12 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 

13 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 

14 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

15 items. 

Æ 


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