George Washington’s reputation has made it difficult for historians to fairly describe his achievements – which are rightly regarded as legendary – or his persona, which is most definitely that of a human being, with pluses and minuses. The Heidlers, David and Jeanne, who produced a marvelously balanced biography of Henry Clay only four years ago, now turn on their lens to the Father of the Country.
Washington’s performance in leading the colonists to victory over the vaunted British army and navy is one of the towering feats in American history. He was superb, tenacious, fair and brave. In this history, the Heidlers leave his Revolutionary War record virtually untouched. This history begins with Washington’s presidency. Everything about the American experience was new; never before had a country of this vast scope, vast even with the people of the country huddling only along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, experimented with such a new system of government. Even the new president’s title was a subject of significant debate. John Adams decided that “His Highness” was about right. Fortunately, very few others agreed.
The business of governing the country became the overwhelming center of Washington’s attention. He assembled his team carefully, balancing conflicting views of what the newly written Constitution meant and how the government should function. Broadly, this placed two out of the three most seriously brilliant men in America – and James Madison would be the third -- at opposite ends of these questions: Thomas Jefferson was truly a man of the people and was always at heart a fervent revolutionary. Alexander Hamilton, however, was the mind of American finance, all business and seriously effective. It was he who had Washington’s ear and fullest admiration, in spite of suggestions that he might be conveying vital information about America’s policies and goals to the British. Hamilton’s ascendancy caused a final, irreparable rift in the relations between the two Virginians, Washington and Jefferson, in 1795.
This is the story of how Washington assembled and managed the men that helped him shape the American republic in its earliest days. The Heidler’s history is reminiscent of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, the similar history of the team of leaders chosen by Lincoln to run the country during the Civil War. Washington was faced with individuals competing for power and influence, with enormous skills and persuasive abilities. It is an equally important story and it is constructed with similar skills to Goodwin’s story.
This is one of the most important stories in all of American history. It is the story of the invention of the Presidency. The young nation was enormously fortunate to have usch a cool-headed leader in George Washington who made so many decisions that shaped the nature of America over our 230 year history. The Heidlers tell this story with great knowledge and power.
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