Golda Meir

Golda Meir was born on May 3, 1898 in Kiev, Ukraine. Her family lived there until the fatal Kiev mob attacks which were aimed against Jewish residents (pogrom). These attacks prompted Meir and her family to move to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While in high school, Golda began being involved in the Zionist movement. The Zionist movement is the movement for there to be a Jewish homeland.

In 1916-17, Golda earned her teaching certificate and married her husband, Morris Meyerson. Later in life, Golda Meir officially changed her last name from Meyerson to Meir in 1956.

In 1921, Golda Meir immigrated to Palestine and joined the Merhavia Kibbutz, a communal settlement. Then, during WWII, Golda Meir became a powerful spokesperson for the Zionist Movement. Golda also fought against restrictive immigration policies so more Jews could seek refuge in the Middle East in light of Nazi persecution.

When activist Moshe Sharett was arrested, Meir took over as Chief Liaison with the British. As Chief Liaison, Golda Meir worked to free Sharett and Jewish war refugees who didn’t abide by the strict British Immigration Policy and were locked up. The British White Paper of 1939 called for the establishment of a Jewish homeland, but restricted Jewish immigration to Palestine even though this was during the time of the Holocaust.

When Israel officially declared its Independence in 1948, Golda Meir was one of the people to sign Israel’s Declaration. Meir was then appointed as Minister to Moscow in 1948.

As aggression grew between Israel and Arab countries, Meir returned to Israel and got elected into Parliament. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion sent Golda on a secret mission in disguise to plead with King Abdullah of Jordan not to invade Israel in 1948. Unfortunately, the King declined Meir and Israel’s plea and the clash expanded to include the countries of Iraq, Syria and Egypt.

Hostilities ended with an agreement between all countries to preserve Israeli Independence as well as increasing Israel's territory by 50%.

Golda Meir then served as the Minister of Labor. As Minister of Labor, Meir worked to solve Israel’s employment and housing issues. After working as the Minister of Labor, in 1956, Meir was appointed as Foreign Minister. As Foreign Minister, Meir helped establish relations with emerging African countries, and strengthen ties with the U.S. and Latin America.

When Meir was 68, she decided to retire from public life. Golda thought this was the end of her political career, though she reluctantly stayed in public life and helped merge two political parties into Israel’s Labor Party. Following the death of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol in 1969, Meir was asked to finish out the rest of his remaining term, and she agreed. In the same year, Golda Meir’s political party won the elections which gave her a four-year term as Prime Minister.

While Golda was Prime Minister, she and her administration were able to secure military and economic aid from then U.S. President Richard Nixon. The aid from the United States helped advance Israel's peace negotiations with Arab nations in hopes of ending hostilities.

Between the 1967 and 1973 Arab-Israeli Wars, Meir tried to balance the interests of the two Israeli groups that wanted to settle on the captured land and citizens who favored returning the land in exchange for peace.

Meir led the country during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Syrian forces mobilized at the border. Syria attacked from the North and Egypt from the West. The war lasted three weeks with Israel eventually winning the war with heavy casualties, but gaining more land. After her many years of public life in Israel, Meir formed a New Coalition Government and decided to resign on April 10, 1974.

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