In July 1952, the Egyptian government, led by King Farouk, was overthrown in a bloodless coup led by the Free Officers, soon known as the Egyptian Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). The revolution was ostensibly led by Muhammad Naguib, but it was clear that he was only a figurehead and in just over two years Gamal Abdel Nasser would assume the presidency. Although the RCC's goals were unclear at first, Nasser would embark on a policy aimed at creating an independent Egypt, free from internal and external domination. It was this latter objective that put Nasser on a collision course with the West, initially with Great Britain and, to a lesser extent, France, but ultimately with the United States. As such, Nasser's commitment to autonomy would make him a hero to many in the Arab world and a villain to the West. As a result, for the next sixteen years Nasser and the United States would enjoy a tense relationship that at times bordered on mutual hostility and on other occasions stopped just short of friendship based on pragmatic considerations on each side. Therefore, a detailed study of the relationship between the RCC and the United States is needed, starting from the Egyptian revolution and ending with the death of Nasser in 1970. Ultimately, it can be concluded that each side tried to exploit the other on based on external considerations relating to Arab public opinion and fear of communism. After taking power, the RCC needed to determine its vision towards the West in general and the United States in particular. This is largely due to past circumstances related to Egypt's pressing need to eliminate the vestiges of past imperial rule, thus establishing a constructive relationship with Britain and its actions. For Nasser, superpowers were simply used and discarded when circumstances dictated such an approach. In late 1958, however, this approach appeared to backfire as Iraq became the Soviets' favored ally and appeared to challenge Nasser's hegemony in the Middle East. As such, Nasser's subsequent repression of local communists brought him into conflict with the Soviet Union and caused a change in United States policies. The United States, in turn, has approached Egypt in a similar way, as evidenced by its shifting policies as circumstances change. It is therefore not surprising that at the end of 1958 the United States adopted a policy of maintaining alliances with regional allies and also abandoned its confrontational policy with Nasser. Not surprisingly, the relationship continued to fluctuate throughout the 1960s until Nasser's death in 1970.