August Belmont
August Belmont | |
---|---|
United States Minister to the Netherlands | |
In office October 11, 1853 – September 22, 1857 | |
Preceded by | George Folsom |
Succeeded by | Henry C. Murphy |
Personal details | |
Born | Aaron Schönberg Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S. |
Resting place | Island Cemetery, Newport, Rhode Island |
Spouse |
Caroline Slidell Perry
(m. 1849) |
Children | 6, including Oliver, Raymond |
Parents |
|
Occupation | Financier, politician, diplomat, racehorse owner/breeder |
Signature | |
August Belmont Sr. (born Aaron Schönberg; December 8, 1813 – November 24, 1890) was a German-American financier, diplomat, and politician. He served as Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 1860 to 1872. He was also a thoroughbred racehorse owner and the founder and namesake of the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown of American Thoroughbred horse racing.[2]
Early life
He was born as Aaron or Aron Schönberg on December 8, 1813, to a Jewish family in the village of Alzey,[3][4] which was shortly annexed to the Grand Duchy of Hesse after the Napoleonic Wars. His father, Simon Belmont[a] was the owner of a freehold estate and leading citizen of Alzey, serving as president of the local synagogue for many years. His paternal ancestors were Spanish Jews who fled the Iberian peninsula during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. At a young age, his parents began calling him August, the name he used throughout his life.[3] His mother, Frederika Elsass Belmont, died when August was seven.[6]
After his mother's death, he lived with his uncle and grandmother in Frankfurt, where he attended the Philanthropin, a school founded by Mayer Amschel Rothschild, designed to integrate the city's Jewish and Christian communities. When he was fifteen, he was forced to withdraw from the Philanthropin after his father failed to pay tuition. His relatives prevailed upon the Rothschild family, who were relatives by marriage of his grandmother and already leading European financiers, to train him for business.[3][6] While training as an apprentice and running errands, he was tutored in French, English, composition, and arithmetic.[6] In 1832, his training was rewarded with an appointment as confidential clerk; two years later, he became secretary and traveling companion to one of the firm's partners, which led to his first trip outside Germany to Paris, Naples, and the Vatican City.[6]
Business career
In 1837, the Rothschild branches in Paris and London became concerned with their holdings in the Spanish Empire, which had been destabilized by the Carlist War. They sent Belmont to sail for Cuba via New York City. Reaching New York amid the Panic of 1837, he learned that the Rothschilds' American agent, J.L. and S.I. Joseph & Co., had collapsed under liabilities of $7 million. As the situation called for a response from Europe more rapid than communications technology permitted, Belmont acted on his own judgment to postpone his trip to Cuba and superintend the Rothschild interests in New York, establishing August Belmont & Co. at 78 Wall Street. The Rothschilds eventually approved his decision, making him their permanent agent in the United States.[7]
August Belmont & Company
From 1837 to 1842, Belmont experienced instantaneous success, serving as disbursing agent, dividend collector, and newsgatherer for the Rothschilds and their customers. The new financial house also invested in
In the later half of the 1840s, Belmont's autonomy from the Rothschilds grew, and their relationship declined somewhat. In 1847, the United States government granted Belmont & Co. the right to transfer $3 million to
During Belmont's time abroad as a diplomat in the Netherlands, the business was operated by Charles Christmas and Erhard A. Matthiessen under the name Christmas, Matthiessen & Company.[12]
Diplomatic and early political career
Belmont was a lifelong member of the
1852 presidential campaign
Around 1849, Belmont met John Slidell, a leading member of the Democratic Party in Louisiana, through the Union Club of the City of New York.[15] By 1850, Slidell encouraged Belmont to enter politics. Belmont had voted for Democratic candidates since his naturalization in 1844, although most of his business acquaintances were nominal or active Whigs.[16]
With Slidell, Belmont backed the nomination of former
Minister to the Netherlands (1853–57)
Pierce won the
Ostend Manifesto
Shortly after Pierce's election, Belmont proposed to Buchanan a plan to purchase and annex Cuba through military and diplomatic pressure on the unstable Kingdom of Spain, along with financial pressure from the Rothschilds and other European banking houses which held Spanish government bonds and could threaten the government with bankruptcy. In the letter, Belmont proposed that President-elect Pierce could, through his ministers to London and the Bourbon monarchies in Paris and Naples, create a diplomatic climate favorable to Spanish capitulation. For Naples, he recommended himself; Buchanan endorsed the plan and proposed it to Pierce, omitting Belmont's name.[18] Belmont proposed the plan again to William Marcy upon learning that Marcy would become Secretary of State, adding that he was on good terms with the lover of Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies.[18] He continued to lobby Buchanan, Marcy, and Pierce, directly and through friends, for the appointment to Naples, but it was ultimately given to Robert Dale Owen, and Belmont reluctantly accepted appointment to The Hague.
En route to The Hague, Belmont visited Buchanan and Lionel de Rothschild in London and "several gentlemen of influence" in Madrid. He reported to Washington that Spain was unstable and desperate for financial relief, but also proposed rebellion in Cuba as an alternative to a direct sale, if blocked by "Castilian pride."[19] In October 1853, Belmont requested from Marcy a "secret fund of $40,000 to $50,000"[19] to bribe Spanish officials to support Cuban independence, and he opened backchannel negotiations with the Spanish Minister to The Netherlands, a personal friend who favored the sale. However, Spain–United States relations soured quickly, driven by the bellicosity of Pierre Soulé, the United States Minister to Spain, and the Spanish Revolution of 1854, which installed a government less disposed to sell Cuba. Under sustained pressure from Belmont and other expansionists, President Pierce proposed that Buchanan, Soulé, and John Y. Mason (the three leading American diplomats in Europe) deliver a report on the Belmont plan. Though Slidell proposed that Belmont participate "on account of the Rothschild influence at Madrid and Paris,"[19] he was not present at their meeting in Ostend, Belgium on October 9, 1854. Their report to Secretary Marcy, which favored an invasion of Cuba in the even that Spain refused to sell the island, became known as the Ostend Manifesto. The Manifesto was swiftly doomed by its leak to the New York Herald and the victory of Pierce's opponents in the 1854 elections.[19]
Gibson affair
As chargé d'affaires, Belmont was tasked with negotiating a trade agreement which would allow American shipping in the Dutch East Indies; his efforts were diverted by an international incident over the arrest of American citizen and adventurer Walter M. Gibson for fomenting rebellion in the East Indies.[20] Gibson had been arrested in 1851 for conspiring with the Sultan of Djambi to overthrow Dutch authority on the island of Sumatra. After he was acquitted on a technicality, the Dutch Minister of Justice overturned the colonial court's decision and sentenced him to twelve years imprisonment. Gibson fled the East Indies for Washington, where he arrived in 1853 and appealed to the Pierce administration for protection. He also sought support in pursuing an indemnity claim against the Dutch government for his arrest and destruction of his ship.[20] Secretary Marcy and American public opinion backed Gibson.[20]
After initial resistance from the Dutch foreign ministry, the affair was inflamed in summer 1854 when Gibson, impatient with the State Department's handling of the case, arrived in The Hague personally to pursue his claims, falsely representing himself to Belmont as a special diplomatic agent appointed by Marcy.
Though Marcy thereafter dropped the issue and proceeded to ignore Gibson's claims, and both Marcy and President Pierce praised Belmont's handling of the affair, the entire incident did further damage to Belmont's public reputation in the United States. In addition to the Tribune, the Democratic New York Herald (which had turned on the Pierce administration politically, as the result of a patronage dispute) joined in anti-semitic and xenophobic attacks on Belmont for the remainder of his tenure.[20]
Buchanan years (1857–60)
While at The Hague, Belmont strengthened his ties to James Buchanan, maintaining an active and flattering correspondence with his fellow diplomat. As President Pierce's domestic popularity waned over his handling of the crisis in Kansas, Belmont expected Buchanan to be the next Democratic nominee and the likely President.[21] Stateside, John Slidell organized members of Congress and bankers behind Buchanan for the 1856 nomination and lobbied Buchanan to resign from his post to openly stand as a candidate. He did in March 1856 and, after a visit to Belmont at The Hague, sailed home, where he was nominated and elected president.[21] Belmont's role in the 1856 campaign was a matter of historical controversy; major accounts inaccurate imply he was in the United States, contributing thousands of dollars and planning campaign strategy. Biographer Irving Katz notes that Belmont did not return from Europe until November 1857 and, though he certainly committed money to the Buchanan campaign, no evidence exists as to an exact sum. Regardless of his exact role, he was again a subject of scrutiny and attack from the domestic press, who sought to tarnish Buchanan's image through connection to Belmont.[21]
Though Belmont hoped to receive a promotion within the diplomatic corps, Buchanan and
In 1858, Belmont lobbied to succeed Augustus C. Dodge as Minister to Spain, but his request was ignored by the White House, in part because Buchanan hoped to appoint John Slidell as Minister to France and felt he could not appoint both men to prominent posts. The decision has also been attributed to Belmont's role in the Ostend Manifesto, which made him unsuitable for the sensitive post.[22] The snub agitated Belmont, who broke with the administration permanently, and then broke with his wife's uncle Slidell, after Slidell refused to relay an angry letter from Belmont to the President.[21] Belmont's switch from Buchanan to Douglas drew him into the more moderate "Softshell" faction of the New York party, which favored a pluralist, democratic approach on the issue of slavery. In October 1859, he joined with Samuel J. Tilden and others to organize the Democratic Vigilant Association, a predominantly mercantile group (especially those engaged in trade with the South) to combat "atrocious disunion doctrines," including the abolition of slavery.[23]
Chairman of the Democratic National Committee
1860 conventions and election
Belmont was elected as a delegate to the
Belmont attended the April convention in Charleston with his family and Salomon James de Rothschild as his guest. The convention descended into chaos over the party's position on slavery, was disbanded, and was rescheduled for Baltimore six weeks later.[24] In the meantime, Belmont advised Douglas on campaign strategy and gained the candidate's support for a resolution to protect the rights of slaveholders in the territories. Belmont also funded Douglas rallies in New York City, aiming to raise funds and keep the Northern party united behind Douglas. Douglas expressed gratitude and invited Belmont to meet in Washington in advance of the Baltimore convention, where Douglas was easily nominated without Southern participation. Belmont was selected as to represent New York on the Democratic National Committee and then elevated as the Committee's chairman; he would serve in the role for over a decade.[24] Douglas biographer George F. Milton wrote, "the Committee hoped [Belmont] could smite the Manhattan rock and cause campaign funds to flow." Belmont biographer Irving Katz additionally cites Belmont's "organizing ability, his immense energy, his unswerving loyalty to the Douglas standard, and his efforts to diminish intraparty friction."[25]
Belmont is attributed with single-handedly transforming the position of party chairman from a previously honorary office to one of great political and electoral importance, creating the modern American political party's national organization.[citation needed]
American Civil War
He energetically supported the
According to one version of events, Belmont also used his influence with European business and political leaders to support the Union cause in the Civil War, trying to dissuade the Rothschilds and other French bankers from lending funds or credit for military purchases to the Confederacy and meeting personally in
Remaining chairman of the
According to the
1868 and 1872 elections
Horatio Seymour's electoral defeat in the 1868 election paled in comparison to the later nomination of Liberal Republican Horace Greeley's disastrous 1872 presidential campaign. In 1870, the Democratic Party faced a crisis when the Committee of Seventy emerged to cleanse the government of corruption. A riot at Tammany Hall led to the campaign to topple William M. Tweed. Belmont stood by his party.[32]
While the party chairman had originally promoted
Although the election of 1872 prompted Belmont to resign his chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee, he nevertheless continued to dabble in politics as a champion of U.S. Senator Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware for the presidency, as a fierce critic of the process granting Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency in the 1876 election, and as an advocate of "hard money" financial policies.[34]
Personal life
As a young Jewish foreigner in New York, Belmont had few initial avenues for social advancement. The existing "
On November 7, 1849, Belmont married Caroline Slidell Perry (1829–1892),
Together, they were the parents of six children, with three of his sons becoming involved in politics:[39]
- Perry Belmont (1851–1947),[40][41] U.S. Representative from New York (1881–88) and Minister to Spain (1888–89)
- August Belmont Jr. (1853–1924)[42][43][44]
- Jane Pauline "Jennie" Belmont (1856–1875), who died aged 19
- Fredericka Belmont (1856–1902), who married Samuel Shaw Howland (1849–1925), son of Gardiner Greene Howland[45]
- Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont (1858–1908),[46][47][48] U.S. Representative from New York (1901–03)
- Raymond Rodgers Belmont (1863–1887),[49] a champion polo player
Belmont died in
The Letters, Speeches and Addresses of August Belmont was published at New York in 1890. Belmont left an estate valued at more than ten million dollars (equivalent to $310 million in 2023). He is buried in an ornate
His home, By-the-Sea in Newport, Rhode Island, was demolished in 1946.[52]
Sportsman
He was an avid sportsman, and the famed
Legacy
Belmont, New Hampshire, is named in his honor, an honor he never acknowledged.[citation needed]
The Liberty ship SS August Belmont was named in his honor.
In 1910, sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward completed a bronze statue of a seated Belmont. The statue was originally installed in front of a small chapel adjacent to the Belmont burial plot in the Island Cemetery. It was later moved to a park between Washington Square and Touro Street in Newport. It was replaced by a marker dedicating the park as Eisenhower Park in 1960, to honor President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The statue was loaned by the city of Newport to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1985. It was eventually installed, about 1995, in front of the headquarters building for the Preservation Society of Newport County at the corner of Bellevue and Narragansett Avenues in Newport.[citation needed]
In popular culture
Author Edith Wharton reputedly modeled the character of Julius Beaufort in her novel The Age of Innocence on Belmont.[53]
In The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen L. Carter, August Belmont appears as a character.
References
- ^ "August Belmont".
- ^ a b c "August Belmont is Dead. A Notable Career Closed Early Yesterday Morning. The Veteran Banker's Short And Fatal Illness. His Life As a Leader In Finance, Politics, Society, and On The Turf" (PDF). The New York Times. November 25, 1890. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
August Belmont, the famous banker and turfman, died yesterday morning at 3 o'clock at his residence, 109 Fifth Avenue. The cause of Mr. Belmont's death was pneumonia, from which he had been suffering only three days. The beginning of the malady was a cold contracted at the recent horse show in Madison Square Garden. ...
- ^ a b c Black 1981, p. 6–8.
- ^ Photograph of August Belmont's birth record, Zivilstandsregister Alzey, Germany, 1813
- ^ Black 1981, p. 6.
- ^ a b c d Katz 1968, pp. 3–5.
- ^ Katz 1968, pp. 6–7.
- ^ a b Katz 1968, pp. 6–8.
- ^ Black 1981, pp. 20–25.
- ^ Black 1981, p. 39.
- ^ a b Black 1981, pp. 51–57.
- ^ Katz 1968, p. 33.
- ^ Black 1981, pp. 49–50.
- ^ Katz 1968, p. 10.
- ^ a b Black 1981, p. 60.
- ^ a b c d e f Katz 1968, pp. 10–21.
- ^ Katz 1968, pp. 45–49.
- ^ a b Katz 1968, pp. 22–31.
- ^ a b c d Katz 1968, pp. 40–45.
- ^ a b c d e f Katz 1968, pp. 22–39.
- ^ a b c d e f Katz 1968, pp. 50–61.
- ^ J. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, eds., American National Biography, Vol. II (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), pg. 534
- ^ Katz 1968, pp. 62–70.
- ^ a b c d Katz 1968, pp. 62–74.
- ^ Katz 1968, p. 74.
- ^ Katz 1968, p. 90.
- ^ Allen Johnson, ed., Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. II (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929), pg. 170.
- ^ Katz 1968, p. [page needed].
- ^ Quoted in Katz, 91.
- ^ Garraty and Carnes, pg. 534.
- ^ Garraty and Carnes, pg. 534; Katz, pp. 167–68.
- ^ Homberger, Eric (2002). Mrs. Astor's New York: Money and Social power in a Gilded Age. New York. p. 174.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Katz 1968, p. 200.
- ^ Katz 1968, p. 210–76.
- ^ Black 1981, ch. 4.
- ^ Black 1981, pp. 40–45.
- ^ a b "Mrs. August Belmont Dead.; Death Came Peacefully Yesterday After a Long Illness". The New York Times. November 21, 1892. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- ^ Black 1981, pp. 66–68.
- Bibcode:1887acab.book.....W.
- ^ "Perry Belmont, 96, Ex-diplomat, Dead. Envoy To Spain In 1888-9 Was In Congress 8 Years. Decried Isolationism In 1925 Perry Might, 96, Ex-diplomat, Dead". The New York Times. May 26, 1947. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
Perry Belmont, former representative and diplomat, who was a grandson of Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, died this morning in the Newport Hospital, where he had been a patient since August. He was in his ninety-seventh year. ...
- ^ "MRS. BELMONT DIES; LONG ILL IN PARIS; Former Social Leader Noted for Beauty--First Married to Henry T. Sloane. 20 YEARS IN WASHINGTON Husband, Perry, Former Minister to Spain--Still Owner of Newport Residence". The New York Times. October 21, 1935. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- ^ "August Belmont, Stricken In Office, Dies In 36 Hours. Financier and Sportsman Undergoes Operation, Rallies, Then Sinks Into Coma". The New York Times. December 11, 1924. Retrieved May 3, 2011.
August Belmont, financier and sportsman, died at 6:30 o'clock last evening in his apartment at 550 Park Avenue, less than thirty-six hours after he had been taken ill in his office. ...
- ^ "MRS. AUGUST BELMONT BURIED.; Laid to Rest in Newport (R.I.) Cemetery – Only the Family Present". The New York Times. October 20, 1898. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- ^ "Eleanor Robson and August Belmont Wed. Married by Mgr. Lavelle at Actress's Home With Only Near Relatives Present. Honeymoon in The South. Star Of "The Dawn of a To-Morrow" Left The Stage On Feb. 12. Careers Of Bride And Bridegroom". The New York Times. February 27, 1910. Retrieved September 24, 2010.
August Belmont and Miss Eleanor Robson, the actress who crosed her stage career with the fall of the curtain on "The Dawn of a To-Morrow" at the Majestic Theatre, Brooklyn, on Feb. 12, were married yesterday afternoon at 5 o'clock at, the home of the bride, 302 West Seventy-seventh Street, Mgr. Lavelle. assisted by Father Byrnes of St. Patrick's Cathedral, officiating.
- ^ The Howland Quarterly. Pilgrim John Howland Society. 1939. Retrieved July 18, 2019.
- ^ "O.H.P. Belmont Dead After Brave Fight. He Succumbs to Septic Poisoning, Following an Operation for Appendicitis. To be Held at the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Garden City. Burial at Woodlawn". The New York Times. June 11, 1908. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
The death of Oliver H.P. Belmont occurred soon after 6:30 o'clock this morning at Brookholt, his Long Island country seat. ...
[permanent dead link] - ^ "Mrs. O.H.P. Belmont Dies at Paris Home". The New York Times. January 26, 1933. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
Shock Suffered Last Spring. Complicated by Bronchial and Heart Ailments. Society Leader was 80. Former Wife of W. K. Vanderbilt. Long Held Sway in New York and in Newport Colony
- Chicago Daily Tribune. January 26, 1933. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
Mrs. Oliver H. P. Belmont, leader of New York's '400' for a period of many years before and after the turn of the century, died today at her residence here. She was 80 years old. ...
- ^ "Young Mr. Belmont's Death. Accidentally Shooting Himself While Practicing With A Pistol" (PDF). The New York Times. February 1, 1887. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
- ^ "Biography of August Belmont". Archived from the original on October 10, 2006. Retrieved January 28, 2007.
- ^ "Mrs. August Belmont Dead. Death Came Peacefully Yesterday After A Long Illness" (PDF). The New York Times. November 21, 1892. Retrieved April 29, 2015.
Mrs. August Belmont died yesterday afternoon at 4:30 o'clock. An hour before death she became unconscious, and did not again rally. She passed away peacefully. At her bedside at her death was her son Perry Belmont, August Belmont Jr. and wife, S.S. Howland and wife, Oliver H.P. Belmont, and Dr. Barrows. She was attended in her illness by Drs. Barrows, Polk, and Hanlen.
- ^ "By-the-Sea". The Preservation Society of Newport County. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
- ^ "The Edith Wharton Society". Archived from the original on February 8, 2007. Retrieved January 27, 2007.
Notes
- ^ He was known by the patronym Simon Isaac until 1808, when Napoleon ordered all Jews in France and its German territories to take surnames. He chose Belmont, French for 'beautiful mountain'; in German, the name translated as Schönberg.[5]
- ^ For more on Belmont's public contributions to the war effort, see (Belmont 1870).
Further reading
- Belmont, August (1890). Letters, Speeches and Address of August Belmont. Priv. Print.
- Belmont, August (1870). A Few Letters and Speeches of the Late Civil War. New York, [Priv. Print.]
- Black, David (1981). The King of Fifth Avenue: The Fortunes of August Belmont. Dial Press. ISBN 9780385271943.
- ISBN 0815604114.
- Ferguson, Niall (1998). The House of Rothschild: The World's Banker 1849–1999.
- Katz, Irving (1968). August Belmont: A Political Biography. New York & London: Columbia Univ. Press.
- Gottheil, Richard J. H. (1917). The Belmont-Belmonte Family: A Record of Four Hundred Years. New York.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
External links
- Mr. Lincoln and New York: August Belmont Archived May 14, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. 1900. .