WI Einstein becomes Israel's President?

[danteheadman]

In December 1952, upon the death of Israel's first President, the government offered Einstein the position. Einstein turned them down, citing his old age and political inexperience.

What if he had taken the (largely ceremonial) role? Israel's OTL second president was in power from 1952 to 1963, while Einstein died at 1955. Assuming he dies similar ITTL (of an aneurysm and refusing surgery), he would only have a few years as President. Could Einstein's brief tenure have meaningfully changed anything?

 

[Colonel Zoidberg]

Maybe more scientific emphasis and a shot at some international goodwill toward Israel, but that’s about it.

 

[Joshua Ben Ari]

Not really.

The Presidency is a ceremonial role and largely symbolic, sort of like the British monarchy. You might get an institution named after him (either Einstein University or the Einstein Institute of Science), and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem gets a huge boost because he served on the original Board of Directors along with Freud, Buber, and Weizmann. Having Einstein there just means there's a big name attached to Israel soon after independence, and he'd probably become an Israeli pop icon up there with Ben-Gurion, Herzl, and Golda. But Einstein also dies in '55 so there's not much time for him to do anything policy-wise. He was already in poor health in 1952.

The only real historical changes that I can see happening is if Einstein puts his name to Pinhas Lavon's idea of integrating Arab-Israelis through military service. Lavon had thought extending the draft to include Arab-Israelis would help Jewish-Arab relations. When he experimented with it on a trial basis, thousands of Arab-Israelis answered the call and signed up. Einstein was a big proponent of Jewish-Arab cooperation and this might be something he'd support. But even then, it's a 'maybe he will?' kind of thing rather than a definite thing.

 

[danteheadman]

Not really.

The Presidency is a ceremonial role and largely symbolic, sort of like the British monarchy. You might get an institution named after him (either Einstein University or the Einstein Institute of Science), and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem gets a huge boost because he served on the original Board of Directors along with Freud, Buber, and Weizmann. Having Einstein there just means there's a big name attached to Israel soon after independence, and he'd probably become an Israeli pop icon up there with Ben-Gurion, Herzl, and Golda. But Einstein also dies in '55 so there's not much time for him to do anything policy-wise. He was already in poor health in 1952.

The only real historical changes that I can see happening is if Einstein puts his name to Pinhas Lavon's idea of integrating Arab-Israelis through military service. Lavon had thought extending the draft to include Arab-Israelis would help Jewish-Arab relations. When he experimented with it on a trial basis, thousands of Arab-Israelis answered the call and signed up. Einstein was a big proponent of Jewish-Arab cooperation and this might be something he'd support. But even then, it's a 'maybe he will?' kind of thing rather than a definite thing.

Thank you for your detailed response. I hadn't been aware of Lavon's attempts at integration, where can I learn more about that?

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

For more discussion, see also
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...nstein-accepts-the-israeli-presidency.468416/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-einstein-accepts-isreali-presidency.455173/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-einstein-becomes-israeli-president.433701/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/what-if-einstein-was-the-president-of-israel.430489/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-einstein-president-of-israel.375382/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-einstein-as-president-of-israel.351796/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...tein-accepts-the-presidency-of-israel.286091/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-einstein-as-president-of-israel.204691/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/president-of-israel-albert-einstein.197325/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/einstein-israel.154649/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/einstein-as-president-of-israel.153955/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/einstein-accepts-israel-presidency.70702/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ein-became-president-of-isreal-in-1948.23027/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/president-einstein-of-israel.18061/

 

[Joshua Ben Ari]

Thank you for your detailed response. I hadn't been aware of Lavon's attempts at integration, where can I learn more about that?

No problem! As for more, this (link) is pretty good. There's not much else that I could find, but I'm sure it's out there. There's also bound to be works in Hebrew.

 

[danteheadman]

For more discussion, see also
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...nstein-accepts-the-israeli-presidency.468416/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-einstein-accepts-isreali-presidency.455173/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-einstein-becomes-israeli-president.433701/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/what-if-einstein-was-the-president-of-israel.430489/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-einstein-president-of-israel.375382/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-einstein-as-president-of-israel.351796/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...tein-accepts-the-presidency-of-israel.286091/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/wi-einstein-as-president-of-israel.204691/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/president-of-israel-albert-einstein.197325/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/einstein-israel.154649/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/einstein-as-president-of-israel.153955/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/einstein-accepts-israel-presidency.70702/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ein-became-president-of-isreal-in-1948.23027/

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/president-einstein-of-israel.18061/

Oh wow that's a lot.

No problem! As for more, this (link) is pretty good. There's not much else that I could find, but I'm sure it's out there. There's also bound to be works in Hebrew.

Thanks!