"How George Washington Wrote His Farewell Address" Topic

"George Washington was a man of many talents. Writing speeches was not one of them. He wasn't great at delivering speeches, either. And he was thin-skinned. Washington managed each of those imperfections on its own, but when he had to contend with all three at once, he struggled to maintain his legendary self-control. Such moments of apparent weakness are a gift—not so much for him as for me, one of his biographers: Poignantly, they bring Washington to life. If Washington had had his way, he never would have been president. "My movements to the chair of Government will be accompanied with feelings not unlike those of a culprit who is going to the place of his execution," he wrote to a well-wisher in an uncharacteristically rueful moment ahead of the first inauguration. After leading the country to victory in the Revolution, Washington had happily given up power. But his fellow framers argued that he'd implicitly agreed to be the country's first president by presiding over the 1787 Constitutional Convention, and in 1788 they pressured him out of retirement…"

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Armand

The "Indispensable Man": Would the Revolution Have Succeeded without George Washington?

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Armand

He could have been a Cromwell. He was that popular.
But instead, he turned down running for a third term. And that shocked all the crowned heads of Europe.

John the OFM +1

Yes, that is why GW is Father. Society of Cincinnati and all that.

We are truly blessed that he led the revolution and the first government under the Constitution.

I'm surprised by the author's statements that Washington wasn't good at writing or delivering speeches. From memory his speech during the Conway Cabal left battle hardened officers in tears.

Thanks

Armand