Three Fun Facts About George Washington

General George Washington Resigning His Commission by John Trumbull

Today is Washington’s Birthday, a federal holiday celebrated in honor of George Washington, the first President of the United States. There’s a lot of confusion around this holiday as technically, Washington’s birthday is on February 22nd. Furthermore, this holiday is widely known as Presidents’ Day. By now, you must be wondering why I care so much about this…

Five years ago, I read the Path to Power, the first of a four-volume biography of President Lyndon B. Johnson by Robert Caro. I was so fascinated with that book that I decided to read a biography (not autobiography) of every U.S. President within the next ten years (no later than November 2020).

The best biography of Washington is Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow. It won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. After reading tens of thousands of pages, I thought it would be fun to write down the top three interesting facts about each President, on their birthday. I use the word “fun” loosely.

Three fun facts about George Washington:

1. Many considered Washington the man of marble, but his deep emotions never abated with age. He was writing love letters across the Atlantic to Sally Fairfax (a woman he loved) long after his Presidency. Taming his ungovernable passions was one of his signature achievements in his life.
2. Washington was ridiculously patient. Keeping Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton in his cabinet as long as he did was no easy feat. I cannot think of two men in government, equally brilliant and powerful, who hated each other so openly and for so long. All the while, Washington endured the creation of parties and the often unwarranted, venomous attacks against him from the press.
3. Over the stretch of twenty-two years, Washington enjoyed four straight unanimous elections/appointments: appointed as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, elected as president of the Constitutional Convention, elected as the first President of the United States, and re-elected as President of the United States for his second term.

Next up: Andrew Jackson’s birthday is on March 15th.