21 Facts About August Belmont

August Belmont served as Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 1860 to 1872.

August Belmont was born as Aaron or Aron Schonberg on December 8,1813, to a Jewish family in the village of Alzey, which was shortly annexed to the Grand Duchy of Hesse after the Napoleonic Wars.

From 1837 to 1842, August Belmont experienced instantaneous success, serving as disbursing agent, dividend collector, and newsgatherer for the Rothschilds and their customers.

August Belmont resigned the position in 1850 over objections to the regime's policies towards Hungary, which had become a major cause celebre in the United States, and his growing interest in American politics.

Around 1849, August Belmont met John Slidell, a leading member of the Democratic Party in Louisiana, through the Union Club of the City of New York.

August Belmont had voted for Democratic candidates since his naturalization in 1844, although most of his business acquaintances were nominal or active Whigs.

August Belmont held the title of Charges d'Affairs at The Hague from October 11,1853, until September 26,1854, when the position's title was changed to Minister Resident.

August Belmont continued as Minister Resident until September 22,1857.

August Belmont did in March 1856 and, after a visit to Belmont at The Hague, sailed home, where he was nominated and elected president.

August 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 August 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.

August Belmont, who considered Douglas a personal friend and the likely Democratic nominee in 1860, nevertheless publicly endorsed Buchanan's stance in 1858, circulating a petition which urged Congress to admit Kansas into the Union as a slave state and defending the administration against "'Black' Republicans and Know-Nothings" in an Independence Day speech at Tammany Hall.

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.

August Belmont was elected as a delegate to the 1860 Democratic National Convention.

August Belmont wrote home on April 28,1961, urging the Rothschilds to use their influence to have the Confederacy recognized.

In 1841, he was publicly accused of an affair with a married woman and responded by challenging the accuser to a duel, in which August Belmont was shot in the hip.

On November 7,1849, August Belmont married Caroline Slidell Perry, whom he met that summer through her uncle John Slidell while vacationing at Saratoga Springs.

August Belmont was the daughter of naval officer Matthew Calbraith Perry, captain and commodore in the US Navy, later famous for his expedition to open the trading ports of Japan in 1853.

August Belmont died in Manhattan, New York City on November 24,1890, from pneumonia.

The Letters, Speeches and Addresses of August Belmont was published at New York in 1890.

August Belmont served as the president of the National Jockey Club from 1866 to 1887 and owned the Nursery Stud, which in 1885 was replaced by a stud farm of the same name near Lexington, Kentucky.