Golda Meir was born in Kiev, Ukraine, 1898, and lived in the United States from the age of eight until she immigrated to Israel in 1921.
Meir was one of 37
signatories (including only two women) of the
Israeli Declaration of Independence on May 14, 1948. She was elected Prime Minister of Israel on March 17, 1969, after serving as Minister of Labor and Minister of Foreign Affairs. She was Israel's first and the world's third woman to hold such a position, described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics.
As Prime Minister, Golda Meir concentrated much of her energies on the diplomatic front - artfully mixing personal diplomacy with skillful use of the mass media, with an iron will, a warm personality, a grandmotherly image, and simple but highly effective rhetoric.