On this day in 1981, Hosni Mubarak was sworn in as Egypt's president, eight days after President Anwar Sadat was assassinated, the BBC, UPI and The Christian Science Monitor report.

Islamist militants shot Sadat at a military parade in Cairo on Oct. 6, 1981, the BBC reports.

Mubarak, who was vice president, was nominated to succeed Sadat the next day, UPI reported at the time. He was the only candidate, and more than 99% of voters approved him in a national referendum on Oct. 13, UPI said.

Mubarak was a former air force commander, both UPI and the BBC report. He was credited with Egypt's early victories in the 1973 war with Israel, when he organized a surprise attack by 200 Egyptian warplanes on Israeli positions in the Sinai, UPI said.

Sadat named him vice president in April 1975, UPI and the Monitor reported.

Mubarak quickly promised that he would not change Sadat's peace policy with Israel or Egypt's close ties with the United States, UPI reported.

"I wish I will be able to reach what President Sadat has reached," Mubarak said, according to the Monitor. "I will do all I can to rise to the standards of President Sadat's imagination."

"My life is a series of surprises," he once said, UPI reported.

Mubarak went on to rule Egypt for nearly 30 years. The BBC reported in 2006 that he had kept the country under emergency law for his entire time in office, giving the state broad powers of arrest.

He won three elections without an opponent after 1981, the BBC said. In 2005, after pressure from the United States, he allowed rival candidates for the first time.

What we know: Mubarak was sworn in Oct. 14, 1981, after Sadat's assassination.
What we don't: How many Egyptians voted in the 1981 referendum.