Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952), one of the co-founders of the State of Israel, became its first president in 1948. He died on November 9 in 1952.

After Weizmann’s death Albert Einstein was asked to stand as a candidate for the presidency of Israel. The idea came from the editor of the biggest Israeli newspaper. The Israeli government then decided to offer Einstein this office and the Israeli minister-president David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973) ordered his ambassador to the US in Washington, Abba Eban (1915-2002) to ask Einstein in Princeton whether he wanted to take over the office. In the telegram to Abba Eban it said among other things: “[…] Please find out immediately whether Einstein would accept the election (by parliament) to be Israeli president. […] Please telegraph his answer immediately. Ben Gurion.” About Ben-Gurion is said however, that he had questioned his advisor: “Tell me that to do if he says yes!”

Before the offer of the ambassador reached the 73-year-old Albert Einstein in Princeton, Mercer Street 112, there was already a great disquiet in the household. Einstein had already been informed about the offer to become president of the State of Israel by the New York Times. There were subsequently many phone calls from people who wanted to know whether he would accept the offer. The letter of the ambassador arrived in Mercer Street 112 on the evening of November 17 in 1952. Einstein was very excited and he found the offer unpleasant. He considered how to tell the ambassador he wanted to decline the offer and decided not to send a telegram but to phone the ambassador in Washington directly. In this conversation Einstein declined the offer in a friendly way and deeply moved. The ambassador asked Einstein for a written statement. Einstein fulfilled this request. In a letter which he wrote the next morning he formulated his decline. Among other things he wrote: “I am deeply moved by the offer from our State of Israel (to serve as President), and at once saddened and ashamed that I cannot accept it. All my life I have dealt with objective matters, hence I lack both the natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with people and to exercise official functions. Therefore I would also be an inappropriate candidate for this high task, even when my old age didn’t interfere with my forces more and more. […] … I wish from the bottom of my heart that a man is found who will be able to take over the hard and responsible office due to his work and his personality.”

Einstein’s letter was handed over to Abba Eban by an Israeli legate who had collected the letter in Mercer Street.

As successor to Chaim Weizmann the Israeli politician Jitzchak Ben Zwi (1884-1963) was elected second president of the State of Israel. In 1957 and 1962 he was re-elected. Ben Zwi died during his third period in office on April 23, 1963.