President's Day, George Washington, and Judging the Lot

Presidents Day is celebrated on the 3^rd Monday in February.  Traditionally it was celebrated on February 22, the date of President George Washington’s actual birthday.  But specific dates on the calendar have a pesky habit of falling on every day of the week.  If what you want is not just to commemorate our first President, but to create a three day holiday for the nation’s workers, you have to set not a date, but a day.  So, in 1971 the Uniform Monday Holiday Act was passed, and Washington’s Birthday became, “President’s Day.”

Decades ago I read my first Presidential biography.  It was the life of Woodrow Wilson, and I have been hooked ever since.  I’ve covered 15 of our 44 Presidents so far.  I don’t read them in any particular order.  Travel, current events or a whisper on the wind will dictate which biography I start next.  Sometimes one biography leads to another.  After reading the spectacular book, Truman, by David McCullough, I was eager to read a biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  There was an interesting contrast between those two contemporaries.  The more you read about Harry S Truman, the more you like him.  The more you find out about FDR the less you like him.  They were both effective and admirable Presidents, but Truman was clearly a nicer human being. 

            Sometimes you find a President that history tells you was a great leader, but not a good man.  Andrew Jackson is on that list.  Others were good men, but not good Presidents.  The job simply outstripped their capacity to lead.  It consumed them and the qualities that got them elected in the first place.  William Howard Taft is certainly an example of that type of person and President.  Taft was made for the judicial branch of the government and was only truly happy once he got there—at the end of his political career.  Gerald R. Ford was probably one of the most decent human beings to ever hold the office, but he lacked the long term vision of a truly good President.  Other men where never meant for the office, but once there, rose to the best of their limited ability.  Chester Alan Arthur, who became President after the assassination of James A. Garfield, was the worst kind of political hack. Yet when he became President he turned his back on the political machine and tried to do the job honorably.  Lyndon Johnson was both a visionary leader and highly skilled politician, but he was generally considered to be crude and belligerent.   Johnson would drag both Boehner and Reid to the wood shed and have them both crying like little girls before he was done. 

If I had to recommend just one biography it would be Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow.  This Pulitzer Prize winner opened my eyes to a man whose mythology has not served him well.  Washington is so much better than the stories we heard about him as children.  He truly earned the revered title of, “Father of Our Country.”  He deserves it not because of his mythology, but because of his humanity.  Like many Presidents, he has suffered both from the adoration of his fans and the criticism of his foes.  Neither serves the man well.  He was smarter than we usually think, and his honesty, grace and civic goodness created the Presidency as we know it. 

             These books make me mindful of how history will judge all of our Presidents.  The first thing you notice is how little contemporary popularity has to do with historical judgment.  President Truman was sadly unpopular when he left office, but is now considered a, “near great” President.  JFK was almost elevated to sainthood after his tragic assassination, but has fallen in historical ratings and will continue to do so. 

            I want our next President to be like Washington, or Lincoln, or Abigail Adams.

 

Read a book about a President, and keep the faith.