Levi Morton, Republican vice president

Grand Old Partisan salutes Levi Morton (R-NY), born this day in 1824.  As a young man he moved from Vermont to New York City, becoming a successful banker.  In 1878, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.  Just two years later, James Garfield (R-OH), looking for a New Yorker as his running mate, offered Morton the vice presidential nomination.  Morton turned him down, asking for instead the ambassadorship to France.  So, when Garfield was assassinated, not Morton but another New Yorker, Chester Arthur, became president.

While in Paris, Ambassador Morton was given the honor of making the first rivet during the construction of the Statue of Liberty.  A year after returning from France, in 1893, he was elected to a term as governor of New York.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country, showing office-holders, candidates and activists how they would benefit tremendously from appreciating our Party's heritage of civil rights achievement.  Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP from the Republican point of view.  Each day, his Grand Old Partisan blog -- http://grandoldpartisan.typepad.com -- celebrates 154 years of Republican heroes and heroics.  See www.republicanbasics.com for more information.