Golda Meir

Name at birth: Golda Mabovitz

Golda Meir was Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of Israel, one of the most visible women in international affairs from the 1950s to the 1970s. Born in Russia and raised in the United States, she settled in British Mandate Palestine with her husband (Morris Meyerson) in 1921. Meir (her adopted name) became active in Zionist politics, and after Israel's independence she served as the ambassador to the Soviet Union (1948), was elected to the Knesset (1949) and served as Foreign Minister (1956-65). After the death of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, Meir became Prime Minister in 1969. Her attempts to garner peace for Israel were criticized after the Arab-Israeli War of 1973 (the Yom Kippur War), and she resigned in 1974, succeeded by Yitzhak Rabin.