Washington - The Indispensable Man

By James Thomas Flexner, Little, Brown and Company, 1974, 423 pages
Reviewed By Kent d Curry
March 27, 2000


For being the Father of our Country, it sure seemed strange how little I knew about George Washington. For instance, did you know:

He only left the country once in his life, as a teen?
His overbearing mother prevented his training in a military school in Britain? If she hadn’t, it’s possible he would’ve been on the British side in the Revolutionary war.
His military experience was almost non-existent when he became the Commander-in-Chief of U.S. forces? Still, his reputation after the French and Indian wars was such that no other candidate was possible. This inexperience turned out to be a mixed blessing. On the positive side, he wasn’t hamstrung by European methods of war (which never worked in North America), but the negative side was he wasn’t always able to properly exploit U.S. advantages. Still, he outlasted four British Commanders in Chief.
He inadvertently created the Congressional Congress that created the Constitution due to a dream of a Virginia canal project (that was later superseded by Erie Canal)?
He was the only Founding Father to free all of his slaves? Troubled by the institution of slavery, he – at first – refused to separate families and then, took the inevitable step of freeing all of them in his will. While others, notably Thomas Jefferson, only discussed the troubling aspects of slavery, Washington acted upon this obvious injustice.
Flexner creates a splendid biography to rectify the truth of his opening sentence: "No American is more completely misunderstood than George Washington." After writing four detailed volumes on Washington (receiving a Pulitzer and a special Pulitzer citation in the process), he condensed this vast knowledge into a single book. (A 1985 paperback version from Mentor is also available.)

The result is a fascinating account of a noble giant who was almost single-handedly, and at great personal expense, responsible for the creation of the United States of America. A man who eschewed personal gains his entire public career. A man who felt he must not run for a third term for president so that the world, for the first time in history, would see that a democracy could work by passing on the mantle of power through a free election to a non-relative. A man with many faults, but when faced with tough decisions, always made the correct choice for the good of the nation. A man I thought I knew but didn’t until I read this book.

Every year now, someone seems to sponsor a "Greatest American Presidents" poll, where the top three presidents are inevitably ranked as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and George Washington. While this book doesn’t dispute that ranking, the polls do obscure a greater category, that of "Greatest American." This book proves there’s only one real choice in that higher ranking. It might be interesting to see how far below everyone else fell behind this simple man of great convictions.

ninetyandnine.com

© Kent d Curry, 2000

Kent d Curry doesn’t usually get this laudatory about a biography, but can’t help himself this time. When not gushing, he is an Executive Editor of ninetyandnine.com.

Have an opinion on an article? Let us know how you feel! Click feedback & fill us in.