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Washington's Birthday

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

Unknown said…
This is one of the many emotional moments in Hamilton (the musical) when Washington decides not to run again for President.

"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)

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