An interesting 19th century Navy officer
Uriah P. Levy helped end flogging in the Navy, suffered from anti-Semitic attacks, and was court-martialed six times (he disliked being insulted).
Uriah P. Levy helped end flogging in the Navy, suffered from anti-Semitic attacks, and was court-martialed six times (he disliked being insulted). He was demoted once, and dismissed from the Navy once, but was reinstated, and wound up as the American commander in the Mediterranean. At age 61 he married a teenager.
You don’t get careers like that these days.
My daughter, a graduate student in American history, brought his story to my attention.
To top it off, she notes, he bought the home of his hero, Thomas Jefferson, and sought to restore it.
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1
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