Over the last couple of years, I have been reading up on my American history - especially the American Revolution and Civil War. My admiration for Washington and Lincoln continues to grow with each book I read. Especially Washington - my knowledge of him was woefully underdeveloped by my formal education.
I am currently reading Gordon Wood’s The American Revolution
Washington’s ultimate success as the American commander in chief, however, never stemmed from his military abilities. He was never a traditional military hero. He had no smashing, stunning victories, and his tactical and strategic maneuvers were never the sort that awed men. Instead, it was his character and political talent and judgment that mattered most. His stoicism, dignity, and perseverance in the face of seemingly impossible odds came to symbolize the entire Revolutionary cause. As the war went on year after year, his statute only grew, and by 1779 Americans were celebrating his birthday as well as the Fourth of July.
When I think of Washington’s achievements, two of them - admitting that he chopped down a cherry tree and throwing a dollar across the Potomac - are entirely fictional and the third - refusing to become “President for Life” - is about an absence of action. Yet, in every history I’ve read, Washington seems to be universally admired, even revered, by his other Revolutionary figures. Among giants like Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Harrison, Madison, et al., Washington walks the scene like a giant among giants.
There is no doubt that Washington was a supremely gifted individual, both in his personal traits and in his familial/social connections. Washington’s greatness, though, did not come from genius-level military achievements or ground-breaking political vision. That was provided by other characters in the Revolutionary drama. Instead, Washington’s greatness was rooted in his virtue, which incarnated the American Revolution’s ideals of civic duty, productive living, temperance, personal integrity, etc. He was a true citizen, a modern Cincinnatus, the farmer-general-dictator who, his term of service over, willingly gave up his dictatorship and returned to his farm. (This comparison was not lost on his contemporaries, who elected Washington as the first leader of the fraternal Society of Cincinnati, named a city in honor of the concept, and, of course, named our national capital in his honor.)
Washington’s personal virtues incarnated the Revolutionary ideals of the determined, independent citizen, willing to take responsibility for his country yet refusing the role of king or aristocrat. Washington was a man for his time.
In contrast, can we imagine a contemporary political leader known primarily for his or her virtue and personal character? The only one who comes to mind is Colin Powell, post-Persian Gulf War, who made a Washington-like decision to decline to run for president. Barack Obama almost fits, but, to me anyway, Obama is a blank canvas, whose charisma and all-American back story allows people from nearly every demographic to identify with him in some way.
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