George Washington

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• 1/24/2021
  

  George Washington Resisted the Siren Call of Absolute Power

  by Jan-Benedict Steenkamp

  George Washington is celebrated for his refusal to continue past two terms as President. But his earlier actions in refusing the leadership of a military coup against the Continental Congress in 1783 put the new nation on track to have civilian leadership under law. 

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• SOURCE: The Bulwark
  1/15/2021
  

  The Last Action Hero and the First President

  by Craig Bruce Smith

  If an Austrian-born bodybuilder, a Hollywood actor, can learn the value of the Founders’ ideals, maybe we can too.

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• SOURCE: Virginian-Pilot
  12/19/2020
  

  The Real Story of George Washington’s Boozy Eggnog Recipe — and Martha’s Christmas Cake

  Mount Vernon historian Mary Thompson says the legend of George Washington's super-potent recipe for eggnog is bunk, but the estate does preserve a hand-written holiday cake recipe from Martha Washington.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
  11/11/2020
  

  A Diverse Cabinet will Make Joe Biden a Better President and Unify the Country

  by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

  "Over the past 230 years, presidents have followed Washington’s lead, making increased diversity and representation of religions, backgrounds, genders and races a central part of the cabinet story."

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• SOURCE: Governing
  10/1/2020
  

  President Washington and the Character of the First Supreme Court

  by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

  The first Supreme Court was not the magisterial institution we know today. Both Congress and the executive branch saw its role in political terms, and its composition as subject to change to reflect the shifting needs of the nation. 

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  10/3/2020
  

  We Nearly Lost Our First President to the Flu. The Country Could Have Died, Too

  by Gillian Brockell

  Had he died in the 1790 flu pandemic, the United States might have died with him. The new Constitution lacked detailed instructions on how to treat presidential incapacitation and death. (This was remedied in the 20th century by the 25th Amendment).

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• 8/30/2020
  

  John Oliver Dunked on Joy Behar over George Washington's Slaveowning, but Didn't Do the Reading Himself

  by Erik Curren

  In a rush to dunk on Joy Behar for being clueless about George Washington's practices as a slaveowner, John Oliver flattened the story himself; reading Mary V. Thompson's book would help everyone speak with more authority. 

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• 8/2/2020
  

  Yes, Even George Washington Can Be Redeemed

  by Richard Lim

  While we cannot ignore Washingon's participation in slavery, we shouldn’t discount his remarkable transformation into someone who wished for its abolition and took steps personally to make things right, becoming the only major founder to free his slaves.

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• 6/21/2020
  

  Peace is Temporary Without Trustworthy Leaders: Lessons from the Philadelphia Mutiny

  by David Head

  In an environment of intense mutual suspicion—soldiers accused civilians of stingy ingratitude while civilians saw the army as a threat to their liberty—Washington’s trustworthiness bound the two sides together.

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  6/1/2020
  

  George Washington Would Have So Worn a Mask

  by Maurizio Valsana

  The genre “What would X do?” – where X stands for a noted figure in history, say Jesus or Dolly Parton – is silly. And yet, as a scholar writing a new biography of George Washington, I can’t help making a bold declaration: The Father of His Country would wear his mask in public.

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• SOURCE: Lapham's Quarterly
  4/7/2020
  

  Presidential Approval Rating

  by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

  George Washington tries to give the public what it wants.

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• SOURCE: Society for U.S. Intellectual History
  3/30/2020
  

  Writing an Intellectual History of the President’s Cabinet

  by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

  Historian Lindsay M. Chervinsky discusses the methodology behind her latest book on George Washington's cabinet.

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• SOURCE: Uncommon Sense
  3/26/2020
  

  Women Also Know Washington

  by Lindsay Chervinsky

  The last decade has witnessed a noticeable uptick of works on Washington authored by women, with more to come in the pipeline.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  2/16/20
  

  Renowned presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin finally takes on George Washington

  For all the iconic presidents she has profiled — Theodore Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson among them — Goodwin has never written a biography of George Washington.

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• SOURCE: Washington Post
  2/16/20
  

  George Washington gets romanticized by male biographers. Now a woman has taken him on.

  Alexis Coe argues in “You Never Forget Your First” that the male gaze has distorted our impressions of the first president.

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• SOURCE: NY Times
  2/16/20
  

  What We Still Don’t Get About George Washington

  by Alexis Coe

  There continue to be ways to look with fresh eyes at our founding-est founding father.

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• SOURCE: USA Today
  2/16/20
  

  Go out and shop the Presidents Day sales. It's what George Washington would have done!

  by David Head

  Washington made fashionable purchases that shaped his sense of self and helped him think through the colonies' relationship with the mother country.

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• SOURCE: Smithsonian Mag
  2/4/20
  

  Karin Wulf Interviews Alexis Coe About Her Cheeky New George Washington Biography

  by Karin Wulf

  Alexis Coe’s cheeky biography of the first president pulls no punches

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• SOURCE: History.com
  1/21/20
  

  How 22-Year-Old George Washington Inadvertently Sparked a World War

  The first U.S. president’s celebrated military career actually started out quite poorly, in the French and Indian War.

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• SOURCE: The Hill
  12/10/10
  

  Poll: Majority of Democrats think Obama was better president than Washington

  The poll, conducted by Monmouth University, found that 63 percent of Democratic survey respondents believed that Obama was a better president than Washington.