Golda Meir (1898–1978)

Gerta Ries Wiener (Germany 1907-New York, 2000)
USA, 1978
Bronze, h. 1 ¾ x w. 1 ¾ in.
Cincinnati Skirball Museum, Jewish-American Hall of Fame Collection, gift of Mel and Esther Wacks, Debra Wacks, and Shari Wacks, 2019.7.19 & 2019.7.20

Born in Kiev, Russia, Golda Mabovitch (later Meir) emigrated with her family to Milwaukee in 1906. As a child she organized the American Young Sisters’ Society to provide textbooks for needy school children, establishing a life-long commitment to helping others less fortunate than herself. An avowed Zionist from the time she settled on a kibbutz in Palestine with her husband Morris Myerson in 1921, Meir soon became involved in political activities. She served as an emissary to the Pioneer Women’s Organization in the United States from 1932-4, and after her return to Palestine, joined the Executive Committee of the Histadrut, the General Federation of Israel Labor. She soon rose to become head of Histadrut’s Political Department, and in 1946 served in the same role for the Jewish Agency until the establishment of the State of Israel two years later. Meir’s perilous secret meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan, just before the Arab invasion, was a dramatic attempt for last minute conciliation. David Ben-Gurion appointed her Minister to Moscow, and in 1949 she became Minister of Labor. She initiated large-scale housing and road-building programs, and vigorously supported the policy of unrestricted immigration. As Foreign Minister (1956–1965), Meir was often Israel’s spokesperson at the United Nations, where she pleaded for all of those who call the Holy Land home to “united, fight poverty and disease and illiteracy.” After the death of Levi Eshkol in 1969, Golda Meir became the fourth Prime Minister of Israel. Originally thought to have been a stop-gap appointment, she went on to lead her party to victory in the next election. She held this critical position, continuing to carry on indirect negotiations with Egypt through the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.