October 5, 2024

Wiltwyck Golf Club in Kingston, New York

We celebrate the success of an excellent dinner with curated wine pairings inspired by famous presidential dinners, a silent auction, and musical performances from Hamilton!

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand sent the Society a congratulatory letter in response to the Gala, which you can view below, along with the dinner menu and program.

Great Food and Wine That Changed History

Kevin Zraly organized 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 is the favorite of one of our greatest Presidents.

Laurel Massé, co-founder of the legendary jazz vocal group, Manhattan Transfer, and Vinnie Martucci performed 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 shared stories and anecdotes about his great-grandfather Teddy Roosevelt, 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, was the 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."