Saving Monticello: The Newsletter
The latest about the book, author events, and more
Newsletter Editor - Marc Leepson
Volume XVIII, Number 8 August 1, 2021
“The study of the past is a constantly evolving,
never-ending journey of discovery.” – Eric Foner
LEVY TELLS OF MONTICELLO: In October 1914, as the contentious congressional effort to take Monticello from Jefferson Levy sputtered through its third year, the fate of Thomas Jefferson’s “essay in architecture” became a national issue. That’s because Jefferson Levy—who adamantly fought the effort to take the house from him for three years—had surprisingly changed his mind early that month, announcing that he’d sell Monticello to the government. That’s when newspapers across the country, government officials, and patriotic society leaders joined members of Congress and weighed in publicly on what they believed would be best for Monticello’s future.
The main debate was whether the government or a nonprofit should take over the house. The other bone of contention: exactly what the house and grounds should be used for. Some envisioned it as a restored house museum. Others wanted it to be a presidential retreat—sort of a summer White House.
We know the upshot: Congress never agreed to buy Monticello from Jefferson Levy, and he sold it in 1923 to the nonprofit Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation. The foundation (now the Thomas Jefferson Foundation) has run it ever since as a world-class house museum.
But in 1914 there seemed to
be strong sentiment for the house to become an official presidential retreat. And
it appeared that the Daughters of the American Revolution would run it. Daisy
Allen Story (identified in newspapers at the time as Mrs. William Cummings Story) the president-general of the DAR, met with President
Woodrow Wilson at the White House in July 1916 and convinced him of her organization’s
suitability as Monticello’s future steward.
She then headed to Capitol Hill and testified before a congressional committee making her case that “the custody of this precious shrine” should be “be entrusted to our loving, reverent care,” and that the DAR would operate Monticello as a Virginia home-away-from-the-White-House for the President of the United States.
Jefferson Levy had owned Monticello since 1879, and it had been in his family since his uncle, Uriah Phillips Levy, bought it in 1834. Not long after Jefferson Levy announced he was amenable to selling Monticello, its surrounding 640 acres, and all its furniture and furnishings to the government (for $500,000), he let it be known that he “abhorred” the idea of the place becoming a house museum. Instead, Levy proposed that Monticello remain a residence as he had maintained it for more than 30 years and that it should become a summer home for Presidents.
“Make it the home—the Virginia home—of the Presidents of the United States, and maintain it for their occasional occupancy,” Levy said, “and I will be content.”
Jefferson Levy granted a rare interview on the subject of his ownership of Monticello in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1914, to Harold R. Johnson, a reporter from the Brooklyn Daily Times.
In the article headlined, “Levy Tells of Monticello,” Jefferson Levy said that he went to Monticello every Sunday when he was in Washington on a “railroad journey” that “consumes little over three hours.” Monticello’s proximity to Washington, D.C., he said, was one reason it would make sense to use the house and grounds as a presidential retreat.
“I think it is entirely fitting and proper that I include in the Provisions of the sale a stipulation that it shall be maintained throughout time as a summer home where the President of the United States can spend as much or as little of his time as he desires.” (When Levy sold Monticello to the foundation, there was no stipulation as to its use.)
The Charlottesville establishment supported the presidential house idea. The “summer house” proposal “has been gaining favor here for some years,” the Charlottesville Daily Progress reported in an October 1914 article headlined “May Become Second Capital If Levy’s Suggestion is Put Through.” The city “should take advantage of this opportunity to secure for itself the publicity which the residence of a President of the United States brings.”
The article went on to point out that Monticello would be a “natural home” for American presidents. And it noted that small cities with presidential retreats such as Beverly, Massachusetts—President William Howard Taft’s summer home—and Oyster Bay, New York—the long-time home of Theodore Roosevelt (below)—had been “placed on the map.”
The paper than boldly predicted that Charlottesville might very well become “the second capital of the United States if Levy’s suggestion” that it be “made the summer home of the Presidents is put through.” That never happened, of course, but another of the newspaper’s boosterism predictions did come true. To wit, that “Charlottesville seems destined to become a mecca of tourists.”
EVENTS: None schedule for August. If other events get scheduled, they’ll be listed, along with future talks, on the Author Events page on my website, https://marcleepson.com
