Golda Meir Signed Photograph.

MEIR, Golda.

Item Number: 144180

Rare original photograph of the future Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir, inscribed opposite the photograph, “To Ambassador and Mrs. Lawson, in sincere friendship Golda Meir Jerusalem 12/2/59.” In near fine condition. Photograph by Alfred Bernheim. The recipient, Edward Burnett Lawson was the United States Ambassador to Israel (1954–1959) and Iceland (1949–54).

Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel on March 17, 1969, after serving as Minister of Labour and Foreign Minister. Israel's first and the world's third woman to hold such an office, she was described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics years before the epithet became associated with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion used to call Meir "the best man in the government"; she was often portrayed as the "strong-willed, straight-talking, grey-bunned grandmother of the Jewish people."