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Born: December 8, 1813
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Died: November 24, 1890
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Complete HarpWeek Biography:
August Belmont, Sr., was born in Alzey, Germany, to Frederika Elsass Belmont and Simon
Belmont, a landowner and moneylender. As a child, he attended a Jewish school in
Frankfurt. At the age of fifteen, he started working for the Rothschild banking
firm as an office boy, but soon advanced to the position of confidential clerk.
In 1837 the Rothschilds' sent him to report on the stability of Cuba, but during
a layover he decided to stay in New York City. America was in the midst of a
financial panic at year, yet he opened a private bank, August Belmont and
Company. It would have a continuing close relationship to the Rothschilds' firm.
Belmont was extremely successful, prospering in diverse financial ventures and
serving as the fiscal agent for the federal government during the Mexican War
(1846-1848). In 1849 he married Caroline Slidell Perry, the daughter of
Commodore Matthew Perry and the niece of John Slidell, a Louisiana politician
and diplomat of later Trent Affair fame.
In 1852 Belmont acted as James Buchanan's presidential campaign manager in the
state of New York, then donated liberally to the campaign of Franklin Pierce,
who had defeated Buchanan for the Democratic nomination. After his election,
President Pierce rewarded Belmont with appointment as the U.S. minister to the
Netherlands. During his term (1853-1857), Belmont negotiated trade and
extradition treaties between the two countries and helped draft the Ostend
Manifesto (1854) which called for the annexation of Cuba by the United States.
He again supported Buchanan's presidential aspirations in 1856. When the new
president ignored Belmont's petition to become U.S. minister to Spain, he
resigned as the Dutch minister, went back to New York City, and threw his
support to Buchanan's Democratic rival, Senator Stephen Douglas.
When the Democratic party split in 1860, Douglas tapped Belmont to manage his
presidential campaign. The next year, he was chosen to chair the Democratic
National Committee, a position he would hold for the next twelve years. During
the Civil War he sided with the War Democrats in favor of the Union cause and
influenced European financiers, like the Rothschilds, to withhold financial
assistance from the Confederacy. In 1862 he joined with other prominent
Democrats to purchase the New York World and named Manton Marble, one of his
best friends, as the newspaper's editor. They transformed the publication into
the leading voice of Democratic opinion until Marble retired in 1876. In 1864
Belmont helped secure the Democratic presidential nomination for General George
McClellan, and two years later resisted President Andrew Johnson's efforts to
merge his National Union party with the Democratic party.
In 1868 Belmont's candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, Chief
Justice Salmon Chase, lost to Horatio Seymour because of the former's support of
voting rights for black men. As Belmont had predicted, Seymour was trampled by
General Ulysses Grant in the general election. In 1872 Belmont resigned as
Democratic party chair and became less active in politics, although he did work
unsuccessfully for the nomination of Senator Thomas Bayard (of Delaware) in the
next three presidential campaigns.
Belmont continued to be active in financial affairs and social affairs. He
attained the status of being one of the richest men in America. He helped
popularize horse racing in the United States, establishing the Belmont Stakes
race in 1867. Known as a gourmand, he hosted lavish dinner parties. An avid art
collector, he served as the first board president of the Academy of Music
(1878-1884). Despite (or because of) his accomplishments, he was sometimes
disparaged with anti-Semitic remarks.
Source consulted: American National Biography. |
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