Men around President Abdul Nasser (8).. Husin Al Shafay, Deputy President

Reviewed by: Wafaa El-houseiny 

Translated by: Abdulrhman Abdulnaeem Omar 

Men around President Abdul Nasser (8)... Husin Al Shafay, Deputy President

He was born on February 8, 1918, in the city of Tanta, in the governorate of Gharbia, his father was an engineer in the municipality of Tanta and then moved to the city of Mansoura, where his grandfather Hassan Al Shafay, mayor of the village of Kafr Taha Shubra, the center of Qweisna in Menoufia, and his grandfather to his mother Mustafa al-Azizi, mayor of the city of Tanta. He enrolled in the French school of Saint Louis (Freire) for three years, then moved to Al-Qasid Primary School in Tanta in 1926, and then Mansoura Secondary School in 1934.

 Al Shafay joined the Military College in 1936, where he met Abdel Moneim Riad, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Zakaria Mohieddin, and Anwar Sadat, and traveled to England for three months before graduating in 1938. He joined the cavalry and remained there until the July 1952 revolution.

Al Shafay participated in the 1948 Palestine War, and he was assigned to the General Administration of the Army when the Egyptian forces were besieged in Fallujah, Al Shafay's relationship with many officers expanded through his presence in the Army Department, responsible for the officers and their movements, and following the results of the war, the feeling of boiling began to prevail among the army officers.

In September 1951, Nasser was passing through the army administration, and the two men met on the external ladder. Al Shafay did not know that Nasser was the head of the Free Officers Organization, and he talked to him about the situation in Egypt. Nasser listened to Al Shafay's words without any comment. On the same day, Al Shafay visited Tharwat Okasha and Othman Fawzi and informed him of his responsibility to lead the cavalry, on the day of the revolution with his armored vehicles and tanks.

Al Shafay's assigning in the army administration was terminated on October 20, 1951, after which he returned to the cavalry, and began recruiting many for the revolution, as he took command of the first battalion of armored vehicles that overthrew the monarchy one night and on July 23, 1952, and became a member of the Revolutionary Command Council, at the age of 34.

In October 1952, Hussein enrolled in the Staff College of War and obtained a master's degree in military sciences 1953. On April 17, 1954, Al Shafay served as Minister of War in the first government of Gamal Abdel Nasser, then he was appointed Minister of Social Affairs in 1956. He introduced the social insurance system, the winter aid, and the train of mercy. He then took over the Ministry of Planning.

He participated in the unity negotiations between Egypt and Syria in February 1958, then he was appointed Minister of Awqaf and Al-Azhar Affairs and a member of the General Secretariat of the Socialist Union in 1961, supervising the Central Auditing Organization in 1965. He also assumed the presidency of the Revolutionary Court for officers joining the rebellion led by the Minister of War, Field Marshal Abdul Hakim Amer, after the defeat of June 1967.

 Nasser chose him as Vice-President of the Republic in 1963, and he continued in office until Sadat was appointed First Vice-President in 1969, then Sadat chose him as Vice-President of the Republic in 1970, and he continued in office until 1975, and left office without dismissal or resignation. He disappeared from political life, until he died on Friday, November 18, 2005, at the age of 87, after a struggle with the disease for two months.