Washington

A Life

Ron Chernow

0143119966

Notes

As President, he lectured a young relative about to enter college that “every hour misspent is lost forever” and that “future years cannot compensate for lost days at this period of your life.”

Washington believed that ambitious men should hide their true selves, retreat into silence, and not tip people off to their ambition. To sound out people, you had to feign indifference and proceed only when convinced that they were sympathetic and like-minded. The objective was to learn the maximum about other people’s thoughts while revealing the minimum about your own. Always fearful of failure, Washington wanted to push ahead only if he was armed with detailed knowledge and enjoyed a high likelihood of success.

Thomas Jefferson, who was to serve with Washington and Franklin in the Continental Congress, spotted their economical approach to power. “I never heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, nor to any man but the main point,: he later said of the two statesmen. “They laid their shoulders to the great points, knowing that the little ones would follow of themselves.”… He asks few questions, listens attentively, and answers in a low tone and with few words, He is serious in business. … He dealt with it the way he would with many controversies during his presidency: by letting them simmer instead of bringing them to a premature boil. … Whenever his reputation was at stake, he studied every side of a decision, analyzing how his actions would be perceived. Having learned to accumulate power by withholding his assent, he understood the influence of his mystique and kept people in suspense. … Hamilton concurred that the president “consulted much, pondered much; resolved slowly, resolved surely.” By delaying decisions, he made sure that his better judgement prevailed over his temper. At the same time, once decisions were made, they “were seldom, if ever, to be shaken,” wrote John Marshall. Jefferson agreed, saying that Washington’s mind was “slow in operation, being little aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion.” Once a decision was made, Washington seldom retreated unless fresh evidence radically altered his view. “Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence,” Jefferson wrote, “never acting until every circumstance, every consideration, was maturely weighed; refraining if he saw a doubt but, when once decided, going through with his purpose whatever obstacles opposed.” … Washington once advised his adopted grandson that “where there is no occasion for expressing an opinion, it is best to be silent, for there is nothing more certain than that it is at all times more easy to make enemies than friends.” … Washington expressed displeasure with people less often with open rebukes than with the silent treatment, a sudden chill in the air, and a reversion to curt, businesslike communications. … He wasn’t a man who rushed to forgive, but he didn’t hold grudges either. 

Despite his own hard-charging nature, Washington realized that, in view of the fragility of his army, it was sometimes better to miss a major opportunity that barge into a costly error. 

One consistent thread from his earlier life had prefigured these events: Washington’s tenacity of purpose, his singularity ability to stalk a goal with all the resources at his disposal. 

The moment (Washington’s military retirement) captured many of Washington’s finest qualities: his innate dignity and laconic eloquence, his frank affection behind the impassive front, his instinctive command of the theatrical gesture. He had a magisterial way of directing the major scenes in his life. One senses that, as he struggled with deep feelings, he feared that he would surrender control of his emotions if he said any more. 

I rejoice in a belief that intellectual light will spring up in the dark corners of the earth; that freedom of inquiry will produce liberality of conduct; that mankind will reverse the absurd position that the many were made for the few; and that they will not continue slaves in one part of the globe, when they become freemen in another – Scripted Inauguration Speech – not delivered. 

Washington made the chief executive the principal actor, enabling him to initiate treaties and nominate appointees without first huddling with Senate. 

…he touted military preparedness as the best way to prevent war…

Never a perfect man, he always had a normal quota of human frailty, including a craving for money, status, and fame. Ambitious and self-promoting in his formative years, he had remained a tightfisted, sharp-elbowed businessman and a hard-driving slave master. But over the years, this man of deep emotions and strong opinions had learned to subordinate his personal dreams and aspirations to the service of a larger cause, evolving into a statesman with a prodigious mastery of political skills and an unwavering sense of America’s future greatness.


Chernow asserts unnecessary editorial asides, which reveal a bias towards popular modern-day opinions and devoid of historical context and nuance.  

Farewell Address