Shimon Peres was born on August 2, 1923, in Vishniev, Poland. He immigrated with his family to Israel in 1934, where he was educated in the Geula School in Tel Aviv and the agricultural school of Ben Shemen. After a number of years at Kibbutz Geva and Kibbutz Alumot, Peres was elected Secretary of the Labor Youth Movement in 1943.
In 1947 he was conscripted into the Haganah Defense Forces and was responsible for personnel and arms purchases. He continued in this post during the early part of Israel's War of Independence. In 1949 he was appointed head of the Defense Ministry's arms purchases delegation in the United States. He returned to Israel in 1952 and was appointed Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Defense. In 1953 he assumed the position of Director General of the Ministry of Defense. In this capacity, he cemented relations with France and promoted the development of Israel's Aircraft Industry.
In 1959 he was elected to the Knesset. From 1959-1965 he served as Deputy Defense Minister. In 1965, together with David Ben-Gurion, he left the Mapai Labor Party and became the Secretary General of Rafi (Israel Workers List). In 1968, he initiated the return of Rafi to Mapai which formed the Israel Labor Party.
In 1969 Peres was appointed Minister of Absorption, and was assigned responsibility for the economic development of Judea and Samaria. In 1970, he assumed the post of Minister of Transportation and Communications. In 1974, after a period as Information Minister, he was appointed Minister of Defense in the Rabin government, and in this capacity, oversaw the IDF's reorganization after the Yom Kippur War.
Following Yitzhak Rabin's resignation in April 1977, Peres was elected Chairman of the party. He headed the Ma'arach in the 1977 elections, and was the opposition leader until 1984. During this period he was instrumental in rehabilitating the Israel Labor Party.
In 1978 he was elected Vice-President of the Socialist International, an organization in which he played a very active role during his years in opposition.
Upon the establishment of the National Unity Government in September 1984 he assumed the post of Prime Minister and served in this capacity for two years. During this period, he endeavored to cement Israel's relations with Egypt. From 1986-1988 he served as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in the Shamir government. Following the 1988 elections, a National Unity Government was re-established, and Peres was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, posts which he held until the government's dissolution in 1990.
In June 1992, following the election of a new Labor Government headed by Rabin, Peres was appointed Foreign Minister. In this capacity, he promoted the process leading to the signing of the Declaration of Principles with the Palestinians on September 13, 1993, and oversaw its implementation. In 1994, in recognition of his efforts in the pursuit of peace, Peres was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. In the same year, he promoted the contacts with Jordan which led to the signing of the Israel-Jordan peace agreement on October 26, 1994. On November 5, 1995, following the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, Peres replaced him as Prime Minister, a post which he held until the 1996 elections.
Shimon Peres is married to Sonya, and has a daughter, Tzvia, and two sons, Yoni and Chemi.