Egypt has seen its share of news in the last few weeks, from the development of the uprising, subsequent demonstrations, and the ultimate resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. Now there is the introduction of the new Cabinet, sworn in recently by the Egyptian military.
Many members of the existing government have been removed and replaced as a direct result of public protests. In addition to Mubarak himself, many of his closest supporters have also been replaced, ridding the government of the corruption it has contained for many years. Of interest to our engineering community is the appointment of the new Prime Minister, Essam Sharaf, a U.S. educated civil engineer. This new caretaker government will be responsible for steering the country through a difficult transition period towards free elections. Sharaf also joins the ranks of high ranking politicians holding engineering degrees, as opposed to gaining office after legal or military careers.
A famous representative of this selective group is Herbert Hoover, the 31st President of the United States (in office March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933). Hoover was trained as a professional engineering, specializing in mining and civil. Despite not attending high school, Hoover learned bookkeeping, typing, and math in night school, then entered Stanford University in 1891: the university’s first year. Hoover worked extensively in China, learning Mandarin, which he used later in the White House so that he and his wife could avoid eavesdroppers, as well as literally writing the textbook on mining. Despite not having any direct role in the project itself, the Hoover Dam was named after Hoover after its completion. Hoover is remembered for challenging preconceived ideas, taking chances with economic programs to pull the United States out of the Great Depression, and generally making a lot of heavily opposed choices.
With the general distrust of politicians and lawyers in the general public I think it is time again for politicians to come from a background of logic and acceptance of difficult decisions. Too often decisions are made based on who will get the most votes, rather than what should really be done for the good of the country, or the world. Let’s get back to that kind of ideal, making the difficult decisions not for the fact that you may not get re-elected, but because it must be done.
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