When Jordan’s King Abdullah was assassinated in Jerusalem in July 1951, the 15-year-old grandson at his side escaped death only because a medal on his chest deflected a bullet meant for him. A year later, the boy’s father was deposed due to mental illness and Hussein bin Talal became king.

From the beginning, the reign of King Hussein was a series of such brushes with fate. When he first ascended to the throne of an impoverished and backward country haplessly placed in the world’s most unstable region, the betting among Middle East watchers was whether it would be weeks, months or maybe a few years until he was dragged into the street by one mob or another. He survived intrigue, attempted coups, bungled assassinations, accidents and, until his his death Sunday from cancer, disease. He fully deserved his nickname, “The Plucky Little King.”

And, to a considerable degree, the Lucky Little King, a monarch with a knack for turning short-term setbacks into long-term gains. He joined in the disastrous 1967 attack on Israel after wisely judging that Jordan’s fate under victorious Arab nations would be far worse than any beating the Israelis could hand out. In 1994, when it came time to make peace with Israel, he did not make a rash leap; he waited for Egypt and the PLO to make the first gestures. Last fall, he was the guest of honor at the signing of the Wye Peace Accord, adding a dignity to the occasion neither Netanyahu or Arafat could provide.

He flirted with the Soviets early on, then endeared himself irrevocably to the West by declaring, “In the great struggle between communism and freedom there can be no neutrality.” That good will allowed Jordan to sit out the Gulf War without being seen as an ally of Iraq. He harbored Palestinian extremists; he delived the eulogy at Yitzhak Rabin’s funeral.

King Hussein made his own luck, he was a manipulator, he worked both sides of the street, but he distinguished himself from other political opportunists in one important way — he did not employ this remarkable survival instinct for himself, but for his country.

Much to his country’s benefit. Jordan is perhaps the least-blessed land in the Middle East. It has no oil, no natural resources of any consequence. It is small, militarily weak, it’s geographic location is by no means strategic. The people, when he came to power, were poor, uneducated and ununited.

Today, Jordan is among the most stable in the Arab world. Its literacy rate is high, its infant mortality low. The capital, Amman, is a modern city. While unemployment remains troublesome, foreign investment is growing rapidly. The people no longer are warring tribes, but Jordanians.

Just before his death, he dismissed his brother, Prince Hassan, as heir-apparent, in favor of his son, Abdullah. What at first seemed to be a prelude to bloody conflict now seems to be one more deft calculation — Hassan was at King Abdullah’s side when he ascended to the throne Sunday, giving the country the closest thing a monarchy without a constitution could have to a smooth, constitutional transition of power. There will be upheavals, but if Jordan survives them it will be because King Hussein gave his people something they never had before — something to lose.