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Golda Meir was born Goldie Mabovitz in Kiev, Russia, on May 3, 1898. Her father was an impoverished carpenter who longed to give his family a better life. In 1903, he went to America and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He brought his family to Milwaukee three years later, and the transition was difficult. Her parents’ separation took a toll on their relationship, and this, of course, affected their children. However, Golda was a good student and made many friends. After her graduation from secondary school, she attended the Normal School for teachers, and taught in the Milwaukee Public Schools system.
Golda was an active Zionist and socialist. It was through these activities that she met her husband, Morris Myerson, whom she married in 1917. Although Myerson shared her beliefs, he was a quiet man who was more interested in political theory than in being a part of actual change. Golda, however, convinced him to settle in Palestine in 1921, joining kibbutz Merhavyah. Golda immediately took to the physically demanding farm life, but Morris did not. They had two children together, a boy and a girl, but they grew apart over the years. Golda became active in the Jewish women’s labor movement, and was often away on business. Her children have admitted that they felt neglected, but say they are still glad, for the sake of Israel, that their mother chose career over home. Morris and Golda eventually divorced in 1945, but remained on good terms.
Golda held top positions in the World Zionist Agency and the Jewish Agency and was sent to the Pioneer Women’s Organization in the United States as a representative from 1932-34. On her return to Israel, she became the head of the political department at its largest labor union, the Histadrut. The years during World War II were frustrating and heartbreaking to many Jews living in Palestine. Golda and her colleagues knew that Jews were being persecuted in Europe, and put pressure on the British colonial government in Palestine to relax immigration laws. The British were more concerned with pacifying the majority Arab population, and as a result, many Jewish lives were lost.
After the war, Jews saw a reversal of fortune in Palestine. The British pulled out, and the United Nations declared the state of Israel. Golda Meyerson was one of the signatories. She became ambassador to the Soviet Union in 1948, and served as minister of labor from 1949 to 1956. In 1956 she changed her name to Meir, a Hebrew form of Meyerson, and became minister of foreign affairs. In the late ‘60’s she was secretary general for the Labour Party, and in 1969 she became only the second woman in the world to become a prime minister, and the fourth and only female Israeli prime minister.
As prime minister, Meir promoted her socialist agenda, which included improvements in education and massive housing programs to encourage immigration. Her greatest test as prime minister occurred on October 6, 1973, when Syria and Egypt attacked Israel in what came to be known as the Yom Kippur war. Meir and her defense minister, Moshe Dyan, were caught offguard by the attack, and most historians agree that Israel would have lost the war if the U.S. and other Western nations had not acted swiftly to come to its aid. In 1974, Meir’s Labor party lost ground in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, and she resigned soon after. In her last years, she became closer to her family, and died on December 8, 1978.
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