Saying No to Santa

In the Green Room with Historian Olivier Zunz

Olivier Zunz is a University of Virginia historian and author of Philanthropy in America: A History. Before talking about the origins of U.S. philanthropy, he revealed that he donates to the American Heart Assocation-but not to Salvation Army Santas.

Q. What was the first thing you read this morning?

A. The New York Times.

Q. What’s your personal philanthropy strategy-what organizations do you support?

A. I have given mostly to large fundraising campaigns such as the American Heart Association. I’ve been involved in those campaigns myself. I’ve had about 600 volunteers working under me for several years, so that was a way to get to know people in the community.

Q. Who was your childhood hero?

A. My older brother, who’s no longer alive.

Q. What century would you most like to live in?

A. The 19th century: It was the birth of modern democracy. I’m a de Tocqueville fan.

Q. What’s your favorite place in France?

A. I grew up in Paris, but I think my favorite place in France is the Brittany coast. I think it’s just beautiful, and it has a little bit of a Japanese landscape.

Q. When you see a Salvation Army Santa outside the grocery store, do you put something in his pot?

A. Not very frequently. I have never really warmed up too much to the Salvation Army, and it’s nothing against them … Maybe it’s the uniform.

Q. Who is the greatest philanthropist of all time?

A. They come in all kinds, but I have some heroes in my book, and one of them is Julius Rosenwald. He built about 4,000 elementary schools for African Americans in the South.

Q. Where do you go to be alone?

A. My study. It’s pretty much where I spend my time. It’s a whole floor in my house.

Q. If de Tocqueville rose from the dead, what would make him tear his hair out?

A. This is a question a lot of people have asked because there’s a whole controversy as to whether he was for American democracy or very critical of it. I think if he rose from the dead he would be just as perplexed by it [now] as he was then. Then, he decided American democracy was better than monarchy, but it has a lot of defects. But it was still better than the alternative.

Q. What is your most prized material possession?

A. I’m a book collector, so I have some rare books that I would not part with. I’ve got a collection of different things that I’ve collected over the last 45 years of my life.

*Photo by Aaron Salcido.