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| Washington by Peale |
“If Washington does
that, he will be the greatest man alive” – King George
George Washington was the man who held together the nation
in its hour of peril, it’s first President, and its most notable retiree.
When the news that Washington was preparing to leave the
presidency and retire to Mount Vernon, there to resume his life as a gentleman
farmer, reached King George, he said, “If Washington does that, he will be the greatest man
alive.” Washington did that, and he was for that reason the greatest man alive.
Of the big first three – Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson – a cloak
of wonderment and surprise still shrouds Washington.
We know that Jackson, a very tough customer, gave birth to
the modern Democrat Party. We know that Lincoln, perhaps the most fully human president,
both merciful and full of guile, ended slavery and stitched together the broken
bones of a shattered nation. But there is something elusive about Washington.
When Washington, bidding farewell to his troops, pulled off
his glasses and remarked he was sorry to have stumbled badly in his speech --
but “my eyes have grown weary in the service of my country” -- there was not a
dry eye in the room. And in the room were hardened soldiers and a gang of
easily bruised future politicians such as his Aide- de-camp during the dark
days of the Revolution, Alexander Hamilton, not easily given to weeping.
The mystery of Washington is best passed over by historians.
Neither Freud nor Jung could throw much light on Washington. He was the man he
was.
The news brought to King George astonished him and the world
of his day, full of pomp and the occasion dark circumstance – such as the
irretrievable loss of the American colonies.
Comments
"One Last Time"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPgDZBADR3Y
"George Washington's going home...."
Even though Lin Manuel Miranda is as woke as they come, he (in my opinion) created a masterpiece of theatre that seems to fairly accurately depict that time in history, while perhaps not in style of music of the time, dance nor physical resemblance to the folks they were playing. I listened to this soundtrack for a solid two years in my car after seeing it on Broadway before the prices went berserk. :o)