Days of David Ben-Gurion.

BEN-GURION, David.

Item Number: 24048

New York: Grossman Publishers, 1967.

First edition. Quarto, original cloth. Signed on the half title page, “For your efforts on behalf of Israel Bonds D. Ben-Gurion.” Edited by Ohad Zmora. Introduction by S.Y. Agnon. Fine in a near fine pictorial acetate dust jacket. The idea to float bonds issued by Israel’s government was conceived by Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, in the aftermath of Israel’s War of Independence. The war had taken a terrible toll in casualties (more than 1% of the country’s population was killed), and the nation’s fledgling economy was devastated. Compounding the dire situation was the fact that Israel faced economic demands unique to the new state, most especially the arrival of hundreds of thousands of immigrants from post WWII Europe and the Middle East. Short on economic resources, Israel suffered food shortages and imposed rationing, and new arrivals had to be housed in primitive shelters. With his country financially overwhelmed, Ben-Gurion turned to the Diaspora community for help. In September 1950, he convened a meeting of American Jewish leaders at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, where he proposed issuing bonds to help provide Israel with a more secure economic foundation. Ben-Gurion’s goals were two-fold: to obtain millions of dollars in funding for immigrant absorption and the construction of national infrastructure, and to engage Diaspora Jewry as active partners in building the new Jewish state. The American Jewish leaders supported Ben-Gurion’s plan and, the following spring, the prime minister traveled to New York to help launch the inaugural Independence Issue at a Madison Square Garden ceremony. Expectations for first-year sales were $25 million. Instead, final results for 1951 more than doubled projections, exceeding $52 million. This was most likely a gift for a large purchaser of bonds, as this is the only example we have seen or handled.

David Ben-Gurion's life has been so completely identified with Jewish history that "Israel: A Personal History" amounts to an autobiography. With this book, Ben-Gurion joins the small company of great historical figures who have left for posterity a personal record of the events in which they were prime movers.