George Washington

From a Celebration of the First President to a Celebration of the Presidency

Nothing, from the date to the name to the punctuation, has been straightforward in the celebration of Presidents' Day (which is officially observed by the federal government as Washington's Birthday), says biographer Alexis Coe. 

The Classified Info Uproar Shows Americans' Distrust of Secrecy

by Katlyn Marie Carter

"This suspicion of secrecy is why the way in which we handle classified material matters — especially if American leaders want to maintain trust in our democracy."

George Washington in Barbados?

by Erica Johnson Edwards

The local monuments to George Washington's 1751 visit to Barbados demonstrate the interconnectedness of American and Caribbean histories as well as the influence of Caribbean practices of enslavement on the institution in the United States. 

New Documentary Examines the Controversial San Francisco School Mural

Artists and scholars debate the value of confronting historical discomfort against claims that images of violence are traumatizing. Historian Amna Khalid weighs in. 

Did George Washington Have an Enslaved Son?

West Ford founded the freedmen's town of Gum Springs near Mount Vernon in 1833. Today a preservation effort to protect the town is tied to a bitter conflict with Mount Vernon over whether West Ford was also the unacknowledged son of George Washington. 

George Washington and the Legacy of the Flexible Cabinet

by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

The Presidential Cabinet, and its flexible relationship to the chief executive and the work of the executive branch, is the most important legacy of the Washington presidency. It has served some administrations well and been the ruin of others. 

Mt. Vernon Historian Bruce Ragsdale: Washington Faced Slavery and Blinked

While the sources do show Washington's personal repugnance at slavery, he never made a principled, public statement opposing it or a practical plan to end it.

There’s a Very Good Reason ‘Washington Slept Here’

by Nathaniel Philbrick

"Today the phrase 'Washington slept here' is a historical joke, but during the two years of intermittent travel at the beginning of his presidency, all those nights spent in taverns and homes across the country were essential to establishing an enduring Union."

Robert Middlekauff, Historian of Washington and His War, Dies at 91

Robert Middlekauff wrote what was long considered the best single-volume study of the American Revolution, "The Glorious Cause." 

Schwarzenegger: Those Refusing Masking are "Schmucks"

Did the Founders intend freedom to mean rejecting sacrifice for the common good? The Governator says that's ridiculous. 

The Long History of Vaccine Mandates

by Lindsay M. Chervinsky

President Biden's recent call for mandatory vaccination for federal workers follows the precedent set by George Washington's order to inoculate the Continental Army for smallpox.

Vaccine Skeptics Should Heed George Washington’s Example

by Robert Brent Toplin

With the American Revolution hanging in the balance, Washington ordered the mass inoculation of the Continental Army against a smallpox pandemic. Would today's vaccine skeptics accuse him of trampling freedom? 

We, the Nation, Born Under This Tree

by Sean Cleary

A speech of Edward Everett and a painting by N.C. Wyeth create a mythical founding moment of an American nation conceived as a white homeland. 

From Washington to Trump: What Is Dereliction of Duty?

by Lindsay Chervinsky

Public ideas of the presidential duty to defend the nation against foreign and domestic enemies have evolved over two centuries; if Donald Trump had been president in 1793, his response to a pandemic wouldn't have cost him reelection.   

How George Washington Didn’t Lead

Historians Lindsay Chervinsky, Noemie Emery, David Head and Craig Bruce Smith offer reflections in a virtual forum on the first president's leadership.

Advice to POTUS 46 from POTUS 1

by David O. Stewart

The author of a recent political biography of George Washington wonders how the first president would guide the most recent one. 

Historians Correct Nikki Haley After George Washington Tweet

Nikki Haley's recent tweet suggested that, as president, George Washington helped establish the Constitution (which of course created the office). 

Historian Corrects Nikki Haley's George Washington Tweet

Historian and Washington biographer Alexis Coe takes apart Nikki Haley's faulty references to George Washington's role in the founding. 

‘George Washington’ Review: Our Founding Politician

David Stewart's new book on George Washington highlights his political skills and careful work at cultivating allies. Far from being an apolitical leader, Washington was a skilled operator whose greatest achievement was avoiding the stigma of politics. 

A Lesson Unity and Renewal: George Washington and the Building of the Capital City

by Robert P. Watson

The decision to create a national capital city and the execution of the plan was an underappreciated legacy of George Washington's leadership and a key force uniting a fragile new nation.