Depending on how you count, there have been about twenty serious assassination attempts on presidents of the United States in the country’s history. It’s nothing to be proud of, but did you know that one of the attempted assassins was Jewish?

Samuel Joseph Byck was born in South Philadelphia in 1930 to a poor Jewish family (did your Bubbe know him, perhaps?). On February 22, 1974, he set into motion a plot to kill Richard Nixon. It didn’t go well for him.

Prior to his violent scheme, Byck was an all-around schlemiel who more-or-less failed at everything he tried. He was a high school dropout who had difficulty holding down a job or starting new businesses. His wife divorced him, and took his four children (where are they today?). He fell into despair and became disillusioned with the United States, particularly President Nixon’s oppression of poor Americans.

Before his attempt, he began creating recordings of himself ranting, and sent them out  usually to famous figures he admired, including Leonard Bernstein and Jonas Salk (I’m not going to link to any of them here, but you can find some of these on the Internet).

Byck’s plan was this: Hijack a plane, kill the pilot, and fly it into the White House, killing President Nixon.

While Byck’s attempt was a decided flop, unfortunately, he did kill two people. The first victim was a security guard who confronted him. Next, Byck boarded a plane and threatened the pilot and co-pilot. When they explained that the plane couldn’t yet fly even if they wanted it to, he shot them both. Ultimately, the pilot survived; the co-pilot did not. As police attempted to apprehend Byck, he shot and killed himself. He was 44.

The assassination attempt didn’t even affect Nixon’s schedule that day.

Samuel Byck: Not a Jew to be proud of, but a Jew You Should Know. His legacy includes being played by Sean Penn in a biopic, and existing as a character in the Stephen Sondheim musical Assassins. On that front, you could do worse. So let’s conclude with Byck on Broadway, as played by Mario Cantone:

Image via Pinterest.

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Emma Goldman… How do I even begin to explain Emma Goldman?

Emma Goldman is flawless.

She has two diplomas from Vienna and an anarchist philosophy.

I hear she was once fined for $10,000.

I hear she’s against prejudice— of homosexuality!

Her favorite kind of revolution is one where she can dance.

One time she met Nelly Bly, who called her a “modern Joan of Arc.”

One time she punched capitalism in the face… it was awesome.

…

Mean Girls references aside, happy 147th birthday to the famous Jewish anarchist, free-loving, angry protesting, all-around rebel Emma Goldman.

Goldman is also so Jewish, and so American (though she might cringe at the characterization), that she has appeared as a character in at least two Broadway musicals, Assassins and, most notably, Ragtime.

So, to celebrate this special day, here is one of Emma’s fictional appearances, in Ragtime‘s number, “The Night That Goldman Spoke at Union Square.”

(French Woods is a performing arts summer camp that often sends alumni to Broadway. I have no idea who this girl is but she’s a standout as Goldman.)

And if you want to hear the Broadway recording (featuring the amazing Judy Kaye):

Happy birthday, Emma. Your birthday this year, amidst all this political turmoil, is at least the day after Pride, and the day that SCOTUS ruled that Texas’s abortion laws are unconstitutional.

The struggle continues.

Image credit: Wikimedia

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With all the think-pieces about the idea of America having its first Jewish president, everyone forgets that the United States had already had a Jewish supreme leader: Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.

Joshua A. Norton is one of the coolest figures from American History. Basically, he declared himself emperor of the country, and the city of San Francisco responded, “Sure, why not?”

Emperor Norton (to refer to him by his proper title) was an immigrant; he was born in England to a Jewish family, and grew up in South Africa. He came to the United States at about age 30, in 1849, with his parents’ large inheritance, and dreams of growing his fortune. He lost the money on a bad investment and wound up destitute.

So what’s a broke, Jewish immigrant to the United States to do? Languish a few years, and then, in 1859, issue a proclamation:

At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last 9 years and 10 months past of S. F., Cal., declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U. S.; and in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested, do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble in Musical Hall, of this city, on the 1st day of Feb. next, then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity.

— NORTON I, Emperor of the United States.

A major newspaper dutifully printed the words of their new, wise ruler, and his subjects quickly fell in line. For example, the emperor issued his own money, which was honored by many merchants and residents.

Locals yielded to him for his many regular duties, including inspecting buildings, promenading (often on horseback provided by an admirer), and making sure his uniform was impeccable; his subjects gave donations to help him maintain his signature look of a military uniform with epaulets, a beaver hat, a cane, and a sword. He was also frequently honored by gifts from those he ruled, such as free meals at restaurants, and his own box at the opera.

Emperor Norton also issued many proclamations during his two-decade reign, including ones that abolished Congress, both the Democrat and Republican parties, and referring to his home city as “Frisco.”

Alas, traitorous powers undermined many of these decrees, and HaShem knows that had they been fully obeyed and carried out we could avoid a lot of anguish in our political system today.

Other decrees were fulfilled, some after his death, including one that a league be formed between the countries of the world (in fact, the United Nations met for the first time in San Francisco), and that a suspension bridge be built over the San Francisco bay to Oakland (the Emperor regularly visited Oakland by ferry, though he never had to pay fare.

Even though history has generally treated Emperor Norton as an assimilated Jew, he was actually an active member of the Jewish community, and would attend Shabbat services every week at Congregation Emanu-El.

Plus, comic-book-writing-superstar Neil Gaiman once featured Emperor Norton in an issue of Sandman, where he posited that the monarch was a “Lamed Vavnik,” one of the 36 hidden righteous who keep the world from coming to an end.

When Emperor Norton died, thousands attended his funeral (not a Jewish one), and it had all the fanfare befitting a man of his station.

So huzzah to you, Joshua Norton.  Long did you reign, and as a San Francisco newspaper wrote about you:

“The Emperor Norton has never shed blood. He has robbed no one, and despoiled no country. And that, gentlemen, is a hell of a lot more than can be said for anyone else in the king line.”

Image credit: Wikimedia

See also: Your Guide to ‘Jewish Slang’ in Victorian England

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Today, in “Information that will not even help you in bar trivia”: Jews and skateboarding.

There are actually a number of great Jewish skateboarders, but let’s focus on a pioneer of the sport: Alan Gelfand.

If you can name one skateboard trick, it’s probably the ollie, the jump that brings the skateboard up into the air with you. But grungy teenagers didn’t all wake up and do it one day.

If you check the Oxford English Dictionary, you’ll see its origin as “from the name of the US skateboarder Alan ‘Ollie’ Gelfand, who invented the jump in 1976.” That’s right, the ollie is named for a Jewish kid. Gelfand, New York-born and Florida-based, is famous in skateboarding history, part of the modern pioneers of the 1970s. He’s even a member of the International Skateboarding Hall of Fame.

Gelfand has also been a racecar driver, though there is no word on whether like in his signature skateboard move, he can make cars jump without a ramp.

Check out young Ollie doing his thing:

Photo Credit: Ricky Aponte via Flickr.

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