A look at Golda Meir in Milwaukee, before and during her time as leader of Israel
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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
![Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir receives a hug from a student during a visit to Fourth Street School in Milwaukee on Oct. 3, 1969. Meir, who became prime minister of Israel earlier that year, attended the school when she was growing up in Milwaukee.](https://www.jsonline.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2023/08/09/PMJS/70558907007-mjs-hist-meir-1969-01.jpg?width=660&height=455&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir receives a hug from a student during a visit to Fourth Street School in Milwaukee on Oct. 3, 1969. Meir, who became prime minister of Israel earlier that year, attended the school when she was growing up in Milwaukee.
William Vendetta/Chicago Tribune![Golda Meir is shown at age 8, shortly after her arrival in the United States in 1905. Meir and her family left Russia and followed her father of America, where he had settled in Milwaukee and was working as a railroad carpenter. "I spent the first days in Milwaukee in a kind of trance," Meir later recalled.](https://www.jsonline.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2023/08/09/PMJS/70559012007-historic-mjx-55895.jpg?crop=2910,3312,x152,y176&width=580&height=660&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Golda Meir is shown at age 8, shortly after her arrival in the United States in 1905. Meir and her family left Russia and followed her father of America, where he had settled in Milwaukee and was working as a railroad carpenter. "I spent the first days in Milwaukee in a kind of trance," Meir later recalled.
McCall Publishing Company![Golda Meir, shown in the center of the back row, poses with friends in the Labor Zionist movement during a picnic at Lincoln Park in Milwaukee in 1917. The man to the immediate left of Meir is her future husband, Morris Meyerson.](https://www.jsonline.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2023/08/09/PMJS/70559135007-historic-mjx-55108.jpg?crop=2542,1789,x161,y121&width=660&height=465&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Golda Meir, shown in the center of the back row, poses with friends in the Labor Zionist movement during a picnic at Lincoln Park in Milwaukee in 1917. The man to the immediate left of Meir is her future husband, Morris Meyerson.
Journal Sentinel Files![Golda Meir and Morris Meyerson were married in December 1917 in Milwaukee. Morris died in 1952.](https://www.jsonline.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2023/08/09/PMJS/70559278007-historic-mjx-55894.jpg?crop=2668,3843,x299,y105&width=459&height=660&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Golda Meir and Morris Meyerson were married in December 1917 in Milwaukee. Morris died in 1952.
Journal Sentinel Files![At right, Golda Meir, then known as Golda Myerson, visits Milwaukee as part of a Bonds for Israel fundraising drive on May 15, 1951. Meir spoke at the Schroeder Hotel and the Plankinton Hotel, both in downtown Milwaukee. She's shown with Ann Agulnick, citywide chairperson of the bond drive, and Robert Enzer, one of the local drive's directors.](https://www.jsonline.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2023/08/09/PMJS/70559509007-historic-mjx-55105.jpg?crop=4139,3279,x119,y70&width=660&height=523&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
At right, Golda Meir, then known as Golda Myerson, visits Milwaukee as part of a Bonds for Israel fundraising drive on May 15, 1951. Meir spoke at the Schroeder Hotel and the Plankinton Hotel, both in downtown Milwaukee. She's shown with Ann Agulnick, citywide chairperson of the bond drive, and Robert Enzer, one of the local drive's directors.
Journal Sentinel Files![Golda Meir, then Israel's foreign minister, speaks at a reception at Marietta House in Milwaukee on June 6, 1960. Meir stopped in her former hometown after receiving an honorary doctor of law degree earlier that day from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.](https://www.jsonline.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2023/08/09/PMJS/70560338007-historic-mjx-36887.jpg?crop=2970,4245,x43,y39&width=462&height=660&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Golda Meir, then Israel's foreign minister, speaks at a reception at Marietta House in Milwaukee on June 6, 1960. Meir stopped in her former hometown after receiving an honorary doctor of law degree earlier that day from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Journal Sentinel FilesGolda Meir (second from left), in her first visit to the United States as prime minister of Israel, visits her Milwaukee alma mater, Fourth Street School, and is introduced by Principal Wayne Pool, left, to Milwaukee Aldermen Orville Pitts and Vel Phillips, at right, on Oct. 3, 1969.
Journal Sentinel FilesGolda Meir talks with students at her Milwaukee alma mater, Fourth Street School, when the Israeli prime minister returned to the city she grew up in on Oct. 3, 1969. According to the Milwaukee Sentinel, the schoolchildren had spent weeks learning songs in Hebrew and Yiddish for Meir's visit at the school auditorium.
Journal Sentinel Files![Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Richard P. Gousha presents Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir with a textbook, "Lights to Literature," during Meir's visit to Milwaukee's Fourth Street School on Oct. 3, 1969. The textbook was used at the time Meir was a student at the school; as a preteen, she helped form a group that provided school books for youngsters who could not purchase their own.](https://www.jsonline.com/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2023/08/09/PMJS/70560555007-historic-mjb-44827.jpg?crop=2432,3863,x680,y88&width=416&height=660&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Richard P. Gousha presents Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir with a textbook, "Lights to Literature," during Meir's visit to Milwaukee's Fourth Street School on Oct. 3, 1969. The textbook was used at the time Meir was a student at the school; as a preteen, she helped form a group that provided school books for youngsters who could not purchase their own.
Journal Sentinel FilesIsraeli Prime Minister Golda Meir reacts to a program presented by students at the Fourth Street School in Milwaukee on Oct. 3, 1969. Meir, who attended Fourth Street School when she was growing up in Milwaukee, wore a paper corsage given to her by the students."
Journal Sentinel FilesMilwaukee Mayor Henry Maier gives a plaque to Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir on Oct. 3, 1969. Maier decreed it "Golda Meir Day" in Milwaukee to mark the world leader's first visit to the city as prime minister. Meir grew up in Milwaukee before moving to Palestine in 1921.
Journal Sentinel Files