Saturday Matinee: This American President

Lindsay Graham (0:08)

If you study history at any length, you will come across persons of such rare substance and character that they surely must be historical figures. The leaders, thinkers, doers and makers. Reading about them, you can see how the great man theory of history came about. These are such extraordinary people, so gifted in intelligence, courage or prowess that when the times called for it, they were able to intuitively and inevitably rise to greatness.

Now, I don't think it's as simple as that. Everyone's life is a labyrinth of choices and accidents that have many different parallel paths. Some lead to greatness, some to a smaller life. And who's to say that someone else might have been a better fit for the moment? Let's take George Washington. No man is more responsible for the success of the American Republic than he, as a general, as a statesman and as a figurehead. But what would have happened if he hadn't been there to step up? Would America have lost his one necessary hero?

I don't really know. Maybe someone else, with a different sort of exceptionalism, would have risen to lead.

Instead, George Washington is the hero we got. And he is plenty, as we will hear on today's Saturday Matinee, with an episode from the podcast This American President, hosted by Richard Lim, author of the new book Refusing a Crown, How George Washington Changed the World. I hope you enjoy. While you're listening, be sure to search for and follow This American President. We put a link in the show notes to make it easy for you.

Richard Lim (1:43)

What do you think of when you hear the name George Washington? Do you think about the famous story of him chopping down the cherry tree? Or the fact that he was the first president of the United States? Or that his face is on the $1 bill?

217 years after his death, George Washington can seem more like a myth than a real person, more monument than man. And some might even call him boring. We learn that he was a man of integrity and weawn. Perhaps in our cynical times, we prefer our leaders a bit more complicated and a bit more human. In the first episode of This American President, we will explore the real George Washington. Indeed, he was a real human being who, like anyone, was flawed, had quirks and made mistakes.

But I hope you'll find that he was anything but boring. In fact, this George Washington might surprise you. You know that he was our first chief executive. Did you know that Washington, the dour old man on the dollar bill, was actually an action hero?

My name is Richard Lim, and I've spent much of my life studying the presidents of the United States. I even worked for one and had the privilege of seeing him up close. My friends and I started this podcast so that I could share this passion with others. We've had 45 presidents, and each one represents a unique chapter in our nation's history. Those chapters are filled with triumphs and tragedies, successes and failures. Some of our presidents were brilliant, and others were just plain bizarre. But they all have a story to tell and help to shape the country we have today. And now, we will explore one of those stories on this episode of This American President.

When I was a kid, I was a fan of the American When I was in between jobs, I worked at Mount Vernon, the place where George Washington lived. I was a tour guide, and when I talked to guests, I found out that all that most people knew about him was that he was the first president. Every kid in America can answer that it was George Washington. That's about all they can say. It's like he's become an answer to a trivia question and nothing more.

George Washington is not unique in that respect. There are lots of great leaders who have been reduced to trivia questions. When it comes to even our greatest leaders, we usually sum up their entire lives in just one or two sentences. With that said, George Washington poses a unique dilemma. On one hand, he may be the most famous American of all time, with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln. I mean, he's on the dollar bill for crying out loud. But there's something about him that seems a bit distant or elusive, even more than our other presidents.

Sure, part of that is the passage of time. He was our first president, so it's only natural that we remember the most recent presidents instead. But it isn't just that. Abraham Lincoln died almost 60 years before Calvin Coolidge was president. But which one are we more familiar with? Who is easier to picture in our heads? The point is, there's something especially distant about Washington. Do you really feel like you know him? Can you picture what meeting him would be like?