In honor of Yom Ha’atzmaut, check out The New York Times’ coverage of the proclamation of the State of Israel from May 15, 1948. The story occupies most of the front page, under the headline “Zionists Proclaim New State of Israel; Truman Recognizes it and Hopes for Peace.”

Correspondent Gene Currivan (who, incidentally, also covered the liberation of Buchenwald three years prior) eloquently captures the joyous “fever of nationalism” in Tel Aviv:

In one of the most hopeful periods of their troubled history the Jewish people here gave a sigh of relief and took a new hold on life when they learned that the greatest national power had accepted them into the international fraternity…

There was great cheering and drinking of toasts in this blacked-out city when word was received that the United States had recognized the provincial Government. The effect on the people, especially those drinking late in Tel Aviv’s coffee houses, was electric. They even ran into the blackness of the streets shouting, cheering and toasting the United States.

Read the full article here.

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