Khalid al-Azm

Khalid al-Azm (Arabic: خالد العظم, romanized: Khālid al-ʿAẓim;‎ 11 June 1903 – 18 November 1965) was a Syrian politician and five-time interim Prime Minister, as well as Acting President from 4 April to 16 September 1941.

He was a member of one of the most prominent political families in Syria, al-Azm (also known as Alazem or Al Azem), and the son of an Ottoman minister of religious affairs.

Azm played a key role in achieving an alliance with the USSR, and traveled there repeatedly to arrange loans, economic pacts and arm sales, angering the United States, where he was nicknamed the "Red Millionaire".

This name was even adopted by the Syria Press in the 1950s, although he was not a socialist, and in fact opposed the pre-eminent advocate of state socialism in the Arab World, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.

He opposed in vain the union with Egypt in 1958 which created the United Arab Republic, arguing that Nasser would destroy Syria's democratic system and free market economy.

[citation needed] When the union was dissolved he returned to Syria, helped draft the secessionist document himself, and tried to run for presidential office but his candidacy was thwarted by the military.

The two men allied with former president Kuwatli to rid the army of pro-Nasserist elements, and reverse the austere program of nationalization instituted by Nasser when he was head of the UAR.

[citation needed] Azm relocated permanently to Beirut, where he lived in difficult financial circumstances, his vast Syrian holdings having been appropriated by the Baathists.

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