April 18, 1997 Chaim Herzog - soldier and statesman By URIEL HEILMAN JERUSALEM Chaim Herzog, former soldier, statesman, author, and sixth president of Israel, died early yesterday morning of heart failure, after contracting pneumonia on a recent visit to the United States, at Sheba hospital in Tel Hashomer. He was 78. "I lost a very close friend," said Nissan Limor, director-general of the President's Residence during the Herzog years. Limor visited Herzog three days ago in the hospital, where he said Herzog was putting the finishing touches on the Hebrew edition of his autobiography that was published last year. Born in Belfast, Ireland, on September 17, 1918, Chaim Herzog, called Vivian as a child, was the eldest son of Ireland's chief rabbi Yitzhak Herzog, who later became Israel's Ashkenazi chief rabbi. Educated at Cambridge University and the University of London, where he earned his doctoral degree in law, Herzog made aliya in 1935 and studied at the Hebron Yeshiva and Talmudic Seminary for two years before joining the Hagana. He enlisted in the British army on the eve of World War II, where he fought in the war against the Nazis, participated in the landing at Normandy, and served in various military campaigns in France and Germany. As a high-ranking officer in British intelligence at the end of the war, Herzog served as one of the interrogators of Nazi Heinrich Himmler and participated in the first Jewish Displaced Persons conference at Bergen-Belsen. Three years later, he saw battle again during the War of Independence, where he fought as an operations officer for the Seventh Brigade. After the formation of the IDF, he served in a variety of capacities until his military retirement as head of the general staff of the Intelligence Branch in 1962. Herzog could not stay away from the military for long, however, and in the months leading up to the Six Day War, he became the leading military commentator for Israel Broadcasting Authority. After Israel's stunning military victory, he assumed the role of first military commander of the West Bank for several months before returning to civilian life as a lawyer and businessman. "The people of Israel will never forget his role and calming words during the Six Day War," said Knesset Speaker Dan Tichon yesterday. During the 1969 elections, Herzog became a leading candidate for the Labor party, serving in the Knesset for several years before being appointed Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in 1975. At the UN, Herzog won broad national support for his frequent public demonstrations against anti-Israel forces in the General Assembly. When the UN passed the infamous Zionism equals racism resolution, Herzog tore up the anti- Zionist resolution in front of a Manhattan audience of over 100,000 people, who gave him a deafening welcome when he declared, "I tore it up on your behalf and thus, for us Jews, it no longer exists." After he returned to Israel in 1978, Herzog frequently appeared on the radio and in the press for his criticism of the Begin government and his views on the Lebanon War. In the late 1970s and early '80s, Herzog founded and chaired the Committee for Concerned Citizens, met with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during peace talks, and was elected to the 10th Knesset in 1981. The well-known soldier, parliamentarian, statesman, lawyer, author, and British knight succeeded Yitzhak Navon as president of the State of Israel in 1983. Although he vowed to be "the people's president," many say his European style lacked the common touch necessary in Israeli culture. "Herzog was a military man, president, son of rabbis and man of the modern age," said Labor leader Shimon Peres. During his 10 years as president, Herzog hosted 11,000 official receptions, received more than one million letters and petitions from citizens, and travelled all over the country and the world, racking up 45 official presidential visits and addressing 13 foreign parliaments, "a Jewish record." Herzog incurred occasional criticism for his frequent absences from Israel as well as for his granting of presidential clemency to members of the Jewish underground and Shin Bet agents of the Bus 300 episode. "I saved the Shin Bet," maintained Herzog in an interview several years ago with The Jerusalem Post . "I got 95 percent negative feedback from the press, but 87 percent of the public supported me," he said. Since his retirement in 1993, Herzog made occasional public appearances and was able to devote more time to his favorite pastimes near his home in Herzliya Pituah, golf and grandchildren. Herzog is survived by his wife Aura, four children, and grandchildren.