March 2020

Saving Monticello: The Newsletter

The latest about the book, author events, and more

Newsletter Editor - Marc Leepson

Volume XVII, Number 3                                           

March 1, 2020

“The study of the past is a constantly evolving, never-ending journey of discovery.” – Eric Foner

NEW EDIFICE: Members of the Levy/Phillips/Nunez family have been associated with New York City’s Shearith Israel, the nation’s oldest Jewish congregation, since 1734. That’s the year that David Machado, who married Uriah Levy’s great grandmother, Zipporah Nunez, moved to New York from Savannah to become the temple’s Hazzan (Prayer Reader). 

As I noted in Saving Monticello, as Hazzan, The Reverend Machado, as he was known, had many duties, including granting licenses to inspect and kill cattle under Jewish dietary laws. He also conducted religious services and was responsible for reciting certain prayers.

Uriah Levy, who—when he wasn’t at sea or spending time at Monticello—lived in New York City from the 1820s until his death in 1862, was a member of the congregation. And his nephew, L. Napoleon Levy (Jefferson Levy’s brother), served as president of the Shearith Israel Congregation in the 1890s and early 1900s.

L.N. Levy, like his older brother Jefferson, was a New York City lawyer. In fact, the brothers became law and business partners. The younger Levy, who died at age 66 in 1921, headed the Congregation when the decision was made to build its fifth and current building on West 70^th Street and Central Park West on an uptown plot of land that been a duck farm.

The noted New York City architect and city planner Arnold Brunner (1857-1925) designed the imposing neo-classical building. Louis Comfort Tiffany did the interior design work, including—naturally—the stained glass windows.

When it came time to lay the cornerstone for the new building, on May 20, 1896 (8 Sivan, 5656 on the Hebrew calendar), L. Napoleon Levy was given the honor. To mark the occasion, the Congregation presented him with an engraved trowel. A big thank you to Steve Lewis, a great-great grandnephew of Jefferson Levy, for sending me the terrific image of the trowel below.

The “fine new structure,” as the New York Journal and Advertiser put it, was dedicated, a year later, on May 19, 1897. Today, an engraved plaque on the ground floor recognizes L. Napoleon Levy’s leadership of Shearith Israel, and an auditorium in the synagogue is named in his honor.

A DANGEROUS SITUATION: Came across an anecdote about Jefferson M. Levy in a recently digitized article from the Philadelphia Post from November of 1903. In it, the paper snarkily relates a story involving Levy and the infamous Richard “Boss” Croker, the Irish-born (1843-1922) New York City Democratic political strongman who dominated the city’s politics from the early 1880s until he returned to Ireland in 1905.

It seems that in 1898 when Jefferson Levy first ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from New York (and won) he had forgotten that, as the paper put it, “shortly after he began to live at Monticello” [in 1879], he had gone “to London and had cards printed bearing this legend…”

Jefferson

Monticello

Levy

Virginia

When the wily Crocker got wind of the business cards, he summoned Levy (below, in an 1890s newspaper sketch), and the conversation went something like this:

Crocker: “Mr. Levy, I understand one of the daily newspapers has one of those cards you were using in London and intends to print a picture of it.”

Levy: “Well?”

Crocker: “Well? Don’t you see the connection? If they print that card, like as not you will be barred from Congress. You say you are from Virginia, and you are elected to Congress from New York. You must get that card at all hazards. You must be cautious about it, too.

“If the newspaper people hear you want the card, they will doubtless print it. I like you and want to help you, but I warn you that this is a dangerous situation.”

At which point, the article noted, Levy “rushed away, very much frightened.”

During the “rest of the campaign, he had daily consultations with Mr. Croker as to ways and means for getting the card from the newspapers, and each morning he picked up that journal in fear and trembling and looked for the reproductions.”

The article reported that Croker enlisted some members of the NYC Democratic Club to help retrieve the potentially damning card. “There were hours of consultations over dinner tables,” the article pointed out, “Levy always picking up the checks.”

Then one day Croker and company presented Levy with the card—and “demanded” that Levy “provide a banquet for those who had saved his seat in Congress.” Levy “responded liberally, and to this day he thinks he was kept in Congress by the efforts of Croker and his friends.”

Thomas Nast cartoon showing Boss Croker's tentacles ensnaring N.Y. City Hall

That article was the first I’d heard of the business card blackmail scheme—which doesn’t mean it’s not true. On the other hand, Jefferson Levy was no fool, and it stretches credulity to think that he’d fall for a blatant blackmail attempt that involved paying for lots of food and drink for his political bosses. On the other hand, crossing Boss Crocker would have cost Levy his critical support, and it’s entirely possible that’s why Levy kept paying for all those meals.

If so, that patronage paid off. Jefferson Levy ran for Congress three times, and won each race: in 1898, 1910, and 1912.

MARCH EVENTS:

·        On Saturday, March 21, I’ll be receiving a National Daughters of the American Revolution History Award at the monthly meeting of the Falls Church DAR chapter in Falls Church, Virginia.

·        On Thursday, March 26, I’m giving a talk on my one and only Civil War book, Desperate Engagement: How a Little-Know Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C., and Changed American History, as part of the Civil War Lecture Series at the GAR Hall in Peninsula, Ohio. More info at peninsulahistory.org/cwls

There’s always a chance I may add a last-minute talk or signing. For the latest on that, or to check out my other scheduled 2020 events, go to the Events page on my website at http://bit.ly/Eventsandtalks

If you’d like to arrange an event for Saving Monticello, or for any of my other books, please send an email to marcleepson@gmail.com For info on my latest book, Ballad of the Green Beret, go to http://bit.ly/GreenBeretBook

GIFT IDEAS:  Want a personally autographed, brand-new paperback copy of Saving Monticello? Please e-mail me. I also have a few as-new, unopened hardcover copies, along with a good selection of brand-new copies of my other books.