Washington's Recognition

The history of Jewish involvement with American presidents begins, appropriate-
ly enough, at the beginning: with George Washington.
There's no record of any Jews in Washington's government, but the Jewish
community played into his presidency in one important way: the letters he wrote
to several Jewish communities in response to their greetings were important
markers in laying ou:
unprecedented way this new democracy would deal
with religious minorities.
Washington's letter to the Jews of Newport,
R.I., on Aug. 17, 1790, stated that the new
country "gives to bigotry no sanction, to perse-
cution no assistance."
Even more importantly, the letter laid out a
relationship to Jews that went beyond mere tol-
eration, said Jewish historian Jonathan Sarna of
Brandeis University.
"Washington understood that tolerance
implied the indulgence of one class for anoth-
er, and that's not what America is about," he
said. It was very important correspondence."
John Adams, the second president, also wrote
to important Jews, but he isn't remembered as
fondly. In 1819, after he was out of office, he
wrote to Mordechai Noah, thanking him for his
book of travels.
Then this zinger.
"I really wish the Jews [to be] again in Judea
[as] an independent nation. ... Once restored
to an independent government and no longer
persecuted, they would soon wear away some
of the asperities and peculiarities of their char-
acters, and probably in time become liberal
Unitarian Christians."
So much for religious tolerance.
Thomas Jefferson, the great thinker of
early American democracy, had a strangely
ambivalent view of Jews, Sarna said.
"He had certain ideas about mythical
Jews; he could say outrageous things, but
when he was involved with real Jews, his
record was very good," Sarna said.
After his presidency, Jefferson wrote a let-
ter to a prominent Jew in Savannah, Ga.,
praising religious pluralism and expressing
his hope that Jews would become more
prominent in government.
Jews apparently heeded his message; even in
the early 1800s, Jews were starting to horse
trade with presidential contenders.
Isaac Harby, a writer and rebel against
religious orthodoxy, was an early supporter
of Andrew Jackson long before "Old
Hickory" became the seventh president in
1829.
The forgettable Martin Van Buren, a New
Yorker, was more accustomed to dealing with
Jews in politics than any of his predecessors,
although there's no evidence he was any more
interested in bringing them into the White
House.
The campaign of Franklin Pierce in 1852 was
one of the first to generate vigorous debate about
whether a politician was "good for the Jews."
"Pierce came from New Hampshire, and at the
time the state didn't give Jews full rights," Sarna
said. "There were Jews who felt they shouldn't

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No Jew has been president, but many

Jews have held high-ranking positions

in the White House over the last 223 years.

7/2
1999

Detroit Jewish News

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