Golda Meir was the original “Iron Lady” of Israeli politics.

She was called that long before Margaret Thatcher ever received the nickname... She was also described as “the only man in the Cabinet” but we’d rather disregard that one because it sucks. What doesn’t suck is the fact that in 1969, at 70 years of age, Meir became the Prime Minister of Israel and dedicated her political career to Zionism, the movement to re-establish a Jewish homeland in Israel. She was the first woman to hold the position in Israel and the fourth in the world. People criticized her for her lack of domesticity to which she replied, “There is a type of woman, who does not let her husband narrow her horizons." Roasted.

Born in 1898 in what was Russia but is now Ukraine, Meir’s first memories were of violence - her father boarding up the house after news that a pogrom might break out. Soon thereafter, the family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin of all places, where Meir grew up and went to school. She became more and more committed to Zionism and in 1921 moved to Palestine to live and work on a kibbutz, which is basically a commune. After this, Golda set her political sights high and moved up the ranks of Israeli government from Minister of Labor to Minister of Foreign Affairs to Minister of Internal Affairs and, finally, to Prime Minister. She was a badass’ badass and never let anyone or anything hold her down, so who else but Andy Warhol to make a silkscreen of her? Not exactly sure how she fits in among Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Jean-Michel Basquiat but we are glad that she has gone down in Pop art history, regardless of who she hangs next to.