Chaim Weizmann (27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was President of Israel from 16 May 1948 to 9 November 1952, succeeding David Ben-Gurion and preceding Yitzhak Ben-Zvi. He was a member of the General Zionists.
Biography[]
Chaim Weizmann was born in Motol, Congress Poland, Russian Empire (present-day Motal, Belarus) in 1874. He received a doctorate degree at the University of Freiburg, and from 1904 lectured at the University of Manchester. He became a leading Zionist figure in England and lobbied successfully to bring about the Balfour Declaration. Chairman of the Zionist Commission to Palestine in 1918, he was the president of the Worldr Zionist Organization from 1920 to 1931 and from 1935 to 1946. In 1929, he succeeded in obtaining from Britain recognition of the Jewish Agency, in which he played a major part. He supported the establishment of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and other cultural institutions that were prerequisite for statehood. He was an effective and influential lobbyist for the international recognition of the state of Israel after World War II, gaining the sympathy of the UN as well as of the USA under Harry S. Truman. The importance of his role in the establishment of an Israeli state was reflected in his election as the country's first head of state. Most of the power rested with Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, and Weizmann in Rehovot until his death in 1952 at the age of 77.