Dayan, Moshe, 1915-1981

Moshe Dayan (b. May 20, 1915, Palestine-d. Oct. 16, 1981, Tel Aviv, Israel), General in the Israeli Army and politician, was trained at an early age in the Jewish militia (Haganah) and imprisoned by the British when Haganah was declared illegal in 1939. Released from prison in 1941, he trained as an intelligence scout in Syria. He later took a leading role in the war with the Arabs (1948-49), and beginning in the early 1950s he held a number of key posts in the Israeli government: Chief of Staff, Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Defense, and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

From the description of Dayan, Moshe, 1915-1981 (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 10582113