He was a candidate for president in the first Israeli presidential election in 1949, losing to Chaim Weizmann.

Klausner was active in the city's scientific, literary and Zionist circles.

Joseph Klausner was a member of the circle of Russian Zionist political activists from Odessa, which included Ze'ev Jabotinsky and Menachem Ussishkin.

In 1919 he helped organize the Ruslan, a ship carrying Jewish refugees and immigrants to Jaffa from Odessa.

A number of clergymen, incensed at Danby for translating the book, demanded his recall from Jerusalem.

[8] In 1982, in recognition of his scholarly achievements, the State of Israel issued a stamp with his picture on it.