On March 17, 1969, Golda Meir became Israel’s first female prime minister and the third female prime minister in history. Meir was born Golda Mabovitch in Kyiv, Ukraine, in 1898. Meir grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her two sisters, where she emigrated at the age of eight. She had five other siblings, all of whom sadly died when she was a child. Meir first attended the Fourth Street Grade School from 1906 to 1912, now called the Golda Meir School in her honor. She formed the American Young Sisters Society and graduated as valedictorian. In high school, she became heavily active in the “Poale Zion,” the Labor Zionist Youth Movement, and embraced Socialist Zionism. Meir met her husband, Morris Meyerson, in Denver, Colorado, while living with her sister. They got married in 1917, and in 1921 they made aliyah with Meir’s sister, Sheyna, where they joined a kibbutz.In 1928, Meir was selected to represent Moetzet HaPoalot (the Working Women’s Council) in the United States. She returned to British Mandatory Palestine in 1934 and joined Histadrut’s Executive Committee, which ultimately prepared her for her future role in Israel’s government. During the 1948 War of Independence, Meir was chosen to be Israel’s ministerial representative to the Soviet Union until 1949. In 1956, Prime Minister Ben-Gurion appointed Meir as Israel’s Foreign Minister during the Suez Crisis, a time during which she shortened her last name ‘Meyerson’ to the Hebrew name “Meir.”When Prime Minister Levi Eshkol suddenly passed away in February 1969, the Knesset elected Golda Meir as Israel’s new prime minister. In 1973, Egypt and Syria coordinated a surprise attack against Israel on Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday on which the Jewish people spend 25 hours fasting and praying. Israel was forced to mobilize and fight for its survival with no preparation. The military gained the support it needed to strengthen its pushback against the invading Arab armies, retaking the Sinai and Mount Hermon. The party saw political infighting unfold as it faced major criticism over Israel’s unpreparedness in the Yom Kippur War. Although the people elected Meir for another term in 1973, she resigned one year later, stating that five years were enough for her and she could not carry the burden of leadership any further. Yitzhak Rabin then stepped in as her successor. Meir died a few years later, on December 8, 1978, from lymphatic cancer at the age of 80. She was buried on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.