William J. Levitt And His Levittowns!
NO BLACKS ALLOWED IN LEVITTOWNS-
The more Trump talks, the more America’s youngest generation learns the true history behind some of the nation's most egregious racial injustices. Yet, there remains strong resistance to teaching these truths in schools. Hell, I guess when it is this bad, I would try to hide it too.
Speaking to the West Point USMA graduation class of 2025, the U.S. President in the midst of his rambling rhetoric begin talking about real estate developer William J. Levitt, and how he went bust, lost everything and had too many trophy wives.
Speaking to graduating cadets, Trump told a story about William Levitt, the real estate developer who pioneered mass-produced homes in suburban developments known as Levittowns. Trump brought Levitt up as an example of someone who had “momentum” in his career and then lost it. While discussing the life of the “great, great real estate man,” Trump made a point to comment on his marital history.
“He ended up getting a divorce, found a new wife,” Trump said. “Could you say a trophy wife? I guess we can say a trophy wife. It didn’t work out too well, but that doesn’t work out too well, I must tell you. A lot of trophy wives, it doesn’t work out. But it made him happy for a little while at least. But he found a new wife.”
Donald J. Trump (US President, May 24, 2025)
I can’t find anything more fitting then this racist President talking about his friend William J. Levitt, a prominent land developer and president of Levitt & Sons, a Jewish man who did racist things, but only for business purposes. William Jaird Levitt is widely regarded as the father of modern American suburbia and often compared to Henry Ford for his revolutionary approach to housing. He is said to have transformed post-World War II residential development by mass-producing affordable homes for returning veterans. Recognizing the urgent need for housing among veternas, Levitt marketed his homes through the GI Bill and federal housing subsidies—programs that, despite their intended purpose, were systematically restricted from benefiting many Black veterans. This was not just personal prejudice—it reflected broader systemic discrimination in housing. The Federal Housing Administration supported such segregation by underwriting loans only for developments that maintained racial homogeneity.
My grandfather felt the sting of this discrimination. See article attached.
Levittown’s original property deeds even contained restrictive covenants that prohibited non-white residents, a practice that was widespread in suburban developments at the time, and while the federal goverment was refusing black GI’s from using the GI Bill. By 1953, the 70,000 people who lived in Levittown constituted the largest community in the United States with no black resident.
Aside from barring black families, the Levitts imposed a “no-Jews” policy in one of their earlier developments. So was William Levitt focused solely on profits?
Originally, the Levitts’ racist policy was enshrined in the lease itself, which stipulated that “the tenant agrees not to permit the premises to be sued or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian race.” That provision was later struck down in court as unconstitutional, but Bill Levitt continued to enforce racial homogeneity in practice by rejecting would-be black buyers.
Bea and Lew Wechsler were a Jewish couple living in a Levittown in 1957. The Wechesler’s challenged Levitt’s restrictive covenant by arranging for the private sale of the house next door to them in the Pennsylvania Levittown to Bill and Daisy Myers an African-American family.
It was a loophole — William Levitt could refuse to anyone who was not, as his contracts specified, of the “Caucasian race,” but he couldn’t stop the homeowners from reselling their houses to whomever they wanted. And so, in 1957, 10 years after the first Levittown was built, the first black couple moved in.
The Wechlslers’ phone rang shortly after the town found out who was moving in. The call was from one of their old neighbors — but when they picked up the phone, the voice on the other end was just screaming, “You N*****-loving Jewish motherf*****s!” It was the first of many calls to come.
As soon as Bill and Daisy Myers and their two children moved in, they were confronted by threatening phone calls and hostile, rock-throwing neighbors. The Myers after moving in were terriorized by local vigilanted mobs. The Police Sergnant assigned to protect the family was stoned. Confederate flags were, purchased and began to flying in neighbors’ cars and windows, crosses were burned on lawns. The Myers family faced endless harassment as well as implicit and explicit threats of violence from other residents in the community. Even with some police potection they received very little help from the local police. The Myers however outlasted their harassers and eventually succeeded in filing criminal charges against the worst members of the mob.
“As a Jew, I have no room in my mind or heart for racial prejudice,” wrote Levitt. “But I have come to know that if we sell one house to a Negro family, then 90 or 95 percent of our white customers will not buy into the community… We can solve a housing problem, or we can try to solve a racial problem, but we cannot combine the two,” wrote Levitt.
Having been taken to court, the New Jersey courts ruled that state barred discrimination in “all housing financed in whole or in part by a loan... guaranteed by the Federal government on any agency thereof.” Levitt appealed to the New Jersey Supreme Court, which upheld the lower court’s decision, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Levitt’s appeal.
Even after the refusal of SCOTUS Levitt continued to enforce discriminatory practices in a Maryland project, reversing his policy only after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in whose honor he declared in full-page ads in major cities across the country, his company was “eliminating segregation in any place it builds,” as quoted by author David Kushner. Black families were denied access to affordable homeownership, which was a key driver of wealth accumulation in postwar America. While white families in Levittown benefited from rising property values and economic stability, Black families were systematically excluded from these opportunities, contributing to the racial wealth gap that persists today. A wealth gap that some want us to believe does not exist.
He wasn’t a racist, William Levitt insisted — he was just a businessman, and he was willing to give up making a better world if he could make a few more dollars.
He might have been telling the truth. Before Levittown, he’d sold houses with a company policy never to sell to Jews — even though Levitt was Jewish himself.
For Levitt, the ends justified the means—his primary market was white homeowners, and he catered to their expectations. In his eyes, segregation wasn’t about ideology; it was about economics. His success depended on satisfying his customer base, reinforcing existing racial boundaries in the process. Yet, for future Black families, the implications of these exclusionary policies were profound.
By restricting access to homeownership, Levitt’s model contributed to a generational wealth gap that extended far beyond individual families—it shaped entire communities. Homeownership, historically one of the most effective paths to financial stability, was denied to Black veterans and working-class families, leaving them without the same opportunities for asset accumulation, economic mobility, and suburban integration. What was framed as a business decision became a defining factor in America’s segregated housing landscape.
Levittown was not just a neighborhood, it was a precedent. It established a pattern replicated across suburban developments, reinforcing systemic barriers that persisted for decades. While Levitt may have viewed his choices as pragmatic rather than racist, the consequences were undeniable: segregation became entrenched, shaping racial and economic disparities that still echo today.
However for Levitt this wasn’t personal or racist. It was just business!
Resources
Jacobson, J. (2009, April 13). Jew vs. Jew in Levittown. The Forward. Retrieved May 24, 2025.
Kushner, D. (2009). Levittown: Two families, one tycoon, and the fight for civil rights in America’s legendary suburb. Walker & Company.
Lebovic, M. (2021, February 16). How America’s Jewish ‘king of the suburbs’ kept Blacks out of suburbia. The Times of Israel. Retrieved May 24, 2025.
CellyBlue - I Do Know This!
trump was definitely chosen for he is embodies America's ugliness, hatefulness and corruptness. And just to be clear he choose to uplift a racist in his speech to West Point graduating class. America look at thyself cuz trump is your mirror.🤣🤣
Djt was a devout student of him.