October 5, 2024

Wiltwyck Golf Club in Kingston, New York

Join us for an excellent dinner with curated wine pairings inspired by famous presidential dinners, a silent auction, and musical performances from Hamilton.

$300/person

Silent Auction is Now Live!

Great Food and Wine That Changed History

Kevin Zraly will organize a five course dinner with five wines, based on the famous dinner in 1790 celebrated in Hamilton. At that dinner Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison resolved remaining major issues amongst them and set the stage for the new Republic. That dinner was closely replicated by Jefferson at the White House when he was President. Bottom line: how a meal of great food and wine changed American history! And each wine selected will be the favorite of one of our greatest Presidents.

Laurel Massé, co-founder of the legendary jazz vocal group, Manhattan Transfer, and Vinnie Martucci will perform the song “In the Room Where It Happens” describing the famed dinner from the musical Hamilton, as well as other numbers from the composition.

honorary Speaker: TWEED ROOSEVELT

Tweed Roosevelt will speak after Kevin. Tweed will share stories and anecdotes about TR, including his love of hunting for, and dining on, game. Tweed heads the Roosevelt School of government and political science at Long Island University and is a University Professor there. He is also Chair of the Society of Presidential Descendants. Tweed's unusual first name honors his grandfather Harrison Tweed, a co-founder of the major Wall Street law firm of Milbank Tweed. Tweed New Haven Airport is also named for Harrison Tweed.

Guest of Honor: Richard Sylla

Richard Sylla, Emeritus Professor of Economics the NYU School of Business and author of the term "Dinner Table Bargain", which appeared in his book Alexander Hamilton: The Illustrated Biography, will be a guest of honor at the gala. 

From Alexander Hamilton: The Illustrated Biography by Richard Sylla: "Jefferson agreed to host a dinner for Hamilton and Madison, at which Hamilton convinced the southerners of the wisdom of the plan. Madison agreed to twist the arms of those congressman in return for Hamilton’s help moving the national capital from New York City, through Philadelphia for ten years (to secure Pennsylvania’s support for the deal), to a new city on the Potomac River. Washington, D.C., stands as America’s capital today because the federal government shouldered state debts.”

“The Dinner Table Bargain cleared the way for enacting the recommendations of Hamilton’s ‘Report on Public Credit.’ New loans, secured primarily through Dutch bankers, allowed for rolling over and discharging the foreign debts—mostly to France—by 1795. The timing of those payments meant that America helped finance the French Revolution, just as the French had helped finance the American Revolution."

Sampling of wines that will accompany each course:
Washington's favorite, Madeira; Jefferson's beloved Bordeaux, Chateau Carbonnieux; and Veuve Clicquot, a champagne adored by both Jefferson and Jack Kennedy. These wines have been donated by the makers for this special occasion.

The silent auction will include fine wines, credits at excellent restaurants and inns, and adventures. “Adventures” include such items as a VIP tour for up to six people, conducted by Tweed, of Sagamore Hill, the Theodore Roosevelt home on Long Island, with access to private collections not open to the public, followed by lunch nearby with Tweed. Another such item is a private tour of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Museum at Vassar College, the oldest college art museum in the nation and one of the finest. It will be led by the Director of the museum, Professor Bart Thurber, who will host a lunch at the Culinary Institute of America after the tour.