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Solomon Levitan (November 1, 1862 – ) was an

Early life

Cartoon of Levitan as a young peddler

On November 1, 1862, Solomon Levitan was born in Tauragė, then a part of the Russian Empire. From the age of five, he was educated at a private school where he learned to write in Hebrew, Yiddish and German. He studied the Talmud with the intention of becoming a rabbi, continuing his training at the Yeshivas Knesses Yisrael in Kaunas as a teenager. He halted his rabbinical training at seventeen years old after deciding that its financial demands would be too great.

After leaving the yeshiva, he worked for his uncle at a winery in Crimea and began employment at a local grain merchant the following year. Following the implication of a Jewish woman in the 1881 assassination of Alexander II, a pogrom broke out in the Russian Empire: Levitan defended his employer in an attack during this and was offered free travel to the United States as a reward. Unable to speak English, he began working as a street paver in Baltimore, before becoming a peddler and bond salesman. Levitan peddled alongside fellow Tauragė native Jacob Epstein, who remained in Baltimore and became a prominent businessman. He soon started learning English while working among the Pennsylvania Dutch.

While working in Baltimore, Levitan fell out with his employer and left the city to head westwards. He had originally intended to relocate to St. Louis, but was convinced by his cousins Hy and Moses to stay in Chicago instead and travel later to Wisconsin for work. The group of peddlers eventually began trading in Dane County and Jefferson County, where Levitan found success as a skilled salesman. He soon settled in New Glarus in Green County, opening his own store in 1887. A further store was opened in Blanchardville. Levitan was supported in the store business by his brother Max, who later began his own lumber business in Chicago with their sister Jennie. Another sister, Rachel, was married to their distant cousin David Levitan and lived in Minneapolis.

In 1892, Levitan was elected a justice of the peace in New Glarus, remaining in the position for four years.

Business career

In the early 1900s, Levitan moved from New Glarus to Madison, where he opened a new general store. He became involved with the city's Commercial National Bank, being elected its president in 1913 and actively serving in that position for the next ten years. He continued in the position after becoming state treasurer in 1923. In September 1922, Levitan became the founding vice president and treasurer of Madison's Commercial Trust company. He established himself as an opponent of branch banking, describing it as "the first overt act toward the creation of a money monopoly".

During the 1910s, he owned several farms and real estate locations around Madison.

In July 1926, Levitan was appointed to the executive committee of the Motion Picture Theater Owners of America (MPTOA).

In 1928, Levitan was a founding owner of Madison's Capitol Theater. He was also a part-owner of the Strand Theater at the same time.

Politics career

Since becoming involved in Wisconsin politics, Levitan had aligned himself with Robert M. La Follette and the progressive wing of the Republican Party. During the 1900 and 1904 elections for governor, Levitan was prominent in rallying votes for La Follette within his village. The pair had apparently first met in 1884 while Levitan was peddling at the home of Eli Pederson, then a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.

In 1912, Levitan served as a Wisconsin delegate to the Republican National Convention, where he followed La Follette's lead in opposing Theodore Roosevelt's candidacy. He then served as a member of the Electoral College in the presidential election that year.

He was an alternate delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1916 and 1920 and served as a delegate to the convention in 1924.

1918 and 1920 primary elections

On June 15, 1918, Levitan announced his candidacy to be the Republican nominee for state treasurer of Wisconsin, running against candidates including John J. Koepsell and the incumbent Henry Johnson. He finished in third place out of four candidates and Johnson was chosen as the nominee.

In June 1920, Levitan announced his second campaign to become the Republican nominee for state treasurer. Following a speech by Otto Onstad, he received unanimous backing from the Nonpartisan League, a group which had found recent support in the state due to the popularity and entryism of the movement surrounding Robert La Follette. The following month, Levitan was endorsed by La Follette himself. He was then endorsed by The Capital Times, who were strong supporters of La Follette as "the greatest statesman that [Wisconsin] has ever produced", and later picked up endorsements from Walter D. Corrigan Sr., Henry Krumrey, Otto Bosshard, George B. Skogmo, Christian Doerfler and Rasmus B. Anderson.

While the Progressives and Nonpartisans had success elsewhere in the Wisconsin primaries, Levitan lost to incumbent Henry Johnson by almost thirteen thousand votes. Prior to the final result, The Capital Times suggested that any loss by Levitan would be due to low support from the state's German community. In 1938, Levitan admitted that he had been told not to campaign during the 1918 and 1920 elections:

They told me to stay home—the less people look at me, the more votes I have. I did use a campaign card. One of the leaders said I lost because my picture was on the card.

State treasurer (1923–1933)

Erick J. Onstad served as Assistant State Treasurer under Levitan

As early as February 1922, Levitan was being suggested as the likely state treasurer candidate for the La Follette and Progressive cause under the Republican party. In April of that year, he announced his candidacy. For the third time, Levitan ran against incumbent state treasurer Henry Johnson, winning the Republican candidacy that September.

On November 7, 1922, Levitan was elected to the office of state treasurer, making him the first Jewish person in Wisconsin to hold the position. In December of that year, he selected attorney and educator Erick J. Onstad as his deputy. As a teenager in Dane County during the 1880s, Onstad had apparently taught Levitan the American Norwegian dialect to assist with his work as a peddler. He was the brother of Otto Onstad, who had supported Levitan's second candidacy for state treasurer.

Levitan took office on January 1, 1923. In December of that year, he claimed that Wisconsin was more financially secure than most other states going into the next year, being "one of the few states which has not a cent of bonded indebtedness". During his first term, he opposed the Mellon tax bill, which he alleged was pro-big business. He argued that the office of State Treasurer should be free from "useless red tape" and political interference; it should instead make use of "efficient business methods" to save taxpayers money.

In January 1924, it was reported that Levitan would face little opposition in any re-election campaign to be the Republican candidate for state treasurer. He announced his candidacy for re-election in June 1924, with former state treasurer Henry Johnson announcing his candidacy to be the Republican candidate the following month. Levitan once again had the support of the progressive La Follette wing of the party.

Personal life

Jewish faith and identity

After moving to Madison in the early 1900s, Levitan became an active member of the city's Orthodox Jewish congregation, being chosen to do readings on Yom Kippur. He served as the first president of Madison's B'nai B'rith lodge (King David Lodge No. 641). In 1922, he represented the lodge at the District Grand Lodge No. 6 convention, having never missed a district convention for twenty years. He was named sergeant-in-arms of the district in 1923.

Levitan was a supporter of Jewish people embracing their heritage and traditions while living as American citizens, calling for the establishment of Jewish foundations in American colleges to promote their faith. In an address to a B'nai B'rith meeting, he said:

Either you are Americans or you are aliens [...] If you call yourself a Jewish-American you are a misfit; but, if you take your place among other loyal Americans as American Jews, then you possess an indisputable right to all the opportunity that America offers. Loyalty to America is not hampered or made weaker but rather is fostered and made stronger by loyalty to that ancient religious faith of ours, which through so many centuries has survived all persecution and hatred, and sustained the Jews in every land.

Levitan's views on Jewish identity and American citizenship were praised by British author Israel Zangwill.

Personality and publicity

A 1927 cartoon of Levitan telling jokes to a crowd

Levitan was known within politics and public life as an amicable and popular speaker. In his profile of Levitan, J. T. Salter dismissed the ideas that his speeches were given without preparation or as a "naive performance", writing that they instead

embod[y] a highly developed and selective appeal aimed at those stereotypes and blind spots in the listener's mind that are most certain to arouse a sympathetic superiority and good will, which will later be transformed into votes at the polls. The faulty English, the foreign accent, the mispronounced words are aids in helping him win and hold attention and sympathy.

In the introduction to a 1924 Success feature on Levitan, Wisconsin-born playwright Zona Gale wrote that "the spirit of Mr. Levitan towards others is the most notable success of his career". Levitan was also known for his use of jokes within political speeches, often referencing his own background or the Jewish people. While campaigning alongside him, Henry Huber said that Levitan "makes more friends in a few minutes with his rich brogue and his quaint humour than any other politician could with hours of oratory".

Family

On August 8, 1887, Levitan married Dora T. Andelson in Chicago's Central Music Hall. Originally from Leavenworth, Kansas, she was involved in Madison's social circles as a member of the Order of the Eastern Star and the Madison Council of Jewish Women before her death in 1934. Their daughter Esther married Sidney Lyon Goldstine of Winnipeg in 1921, and later relocated to Madison, where Goldstine became president of Madison Bank and Trust Co. Their daughter Ethel was married to Albert Jay Boner, a medical doctor in Wisconsin and Chicago. In 1932, Boner was elected president of Madison's B'nai B'rith lodge, of which Levitan had been the first president. Levitan's son Mortimer served as an assistant to the Attorney General of Wisconsin for four decades and helped his father in running the Madison Bank and Trust Co.

See also

• Leopold Levy – Jewish businessman who served as Indiana State Treasurer

Sources to use

• https://www.newspapers.com/article/wisconsin-state-journal-his-tribe-is-pro/142917273/