The American-Scottish Foundation® - Events

ASF Sunset Tea – Special Presentation – Description

Alexander Hamilton: Guiding Light of America’s Commerce

No figure in America's early history played so critical a role organizing our nation's economy, its infrastructure, and its future direction than Alexander Hamilton. Without his extraordinary skills, insight, and background, the Republic might very well have foundered. And a vital, yet less well known, aspect of his work is his involvement with lighthouses. Hamilton shared Washington's determination to give the very highest priority to constructing a network of coastal lighthouses, forging an indispensable part of America's navigational infrastructure that proved indispensable to the country’s ultimate commercial success.

Wade R. Goria will show how the construction of federally sponsored lighthouses, beginning in 1789, not only helped protect mariners from the lethal hazards of the sea, but also promoted the vigorous conduct of trade and commerce – supporting Hamilton’s overall interest in collecting customs duties and building a robust treasury. Along with an exploration of the role played by Hamilton’s paternal Scottish roots as a source of his inspiration, and a description of the educational advantages afforded by his mother’s gifted and intellectually nourishing French Huguenot character and background, Wade examines the genius himself, the grueling hardships Hamilton endured as a boy, and the indefatigable spirit and nature that molded his powerful drive and character. His vision was always purposeful and inspirational, yet practical. Hamilton’s boundless talent and energy first imagined, then fulfilled, America’s destiny.

ASF Sunset Tea Special presentation – Presenter’s Bio

Wade R. Goria was born and raised in New York City. He is a graduate of Brooklyn College, CUNY where he majored in history, and Oxford University, St. Antony's College, where he studied international relations with a concentration on the history and politics of the modern Middle East. He is the author of Sovereignty and Leadership in Lebanon, 1943-1976 published by Ithaca Press in London.

Wade’s academic interests are wide ranging. He taught history and international relations at New York University for 18 years, where he offered 23 different courses on a wide variety of subjects. He received NYU’s “Excellence in Teaching Award” and additional formal recognition as a “Master Teacher.” He has traveled to 48 countries and to all 50 US states. In the village of Nibutani on the island of Hokkaido, Japan, he wrote and narrated a documentary “Japan’s First People,” that explored a remarkable native Ainu woman’s effort to maintain the culture of Japan’s vanishing Ainu population.

Wade has published articles on other historical, political and maritime subjects. For three years, he served as an ongoing contributor to a New York Daily News regular educational feature “New York City: Big Town Big Lives” and another “Jets Geography,” which explored the history, geography and culture of cities across the US. During his career, Wade worked for a number of non-profits and NGOs, including the UN-affiliated International Peace Academy where he was Director of Communications and Development.

He continues an enduring passion for New York’s maritime history. Soon after his retirement at the end of 2015, Wade began volunteering at the National Lighthouse Museum where he developed a strong interest in the extraordinary contributions of Alexander Hamilton, without doubt the preeminent force behind the creation of the US Lighthouse Establishment in 1789, the eventual formation of the US Coast Guard, and the economic and political foundations of the American Republic.

Wade narrates the National Lighthouse Museum’s boat tours, which explore New York’s Metro Lighthouses and points of historical interest. Last summer, he received the National Maritime Museum’s “First Order Fresnel Lens Service Award.”

He is the founder of the Bay Ridge Historical Society in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and is a recipient of a “NYC City Council Citation” for his successful efforts on behalf of historical preservation.

Wade resides in Bay Ridge and in Thompson, Pennsylvania in the beautiful Northeast “Endless Mountain Region,” where he loves to explore its rich local history, canoe, hike and write.