George Washington

by Henry Cabot Lodge

Originally published in 1889, George Washington is the first volume in a series of biographies of the Founding Fathers and succeeding generations of like-minded Americans to be reissued. This is a welcome opportunity to remind this generation of leaders of the great story of liberty. In an age when politicians abound but statesmen are all too rare, Henry Cabot Lodge's portrayal of Washington is timelier than ever. According to the majority of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century historians, the most remarkable event during America's founding era did not take place on battlefields, during the course of the great constitutional debates, or in the midst of diplomatic negotiations with European powers. It occurred instead when the field commander of the Continental army--Gen. George Washington--surrendered his commission to congressional authorities at Annapolis in a humble demonstration of what it means to be a leader who serves the nation instead of himself. At the time, Washington was the idol of the country and his soldiers. The army was unpaid, and the veteran troops, well-armed and fresh from their victory at Yorktown, were eager to have him take control of the disordered country. Some wanted to make him a king. Others thought to make him a dictator--like Cromwell had been a century earlier in England. It was clear to all that Washington was first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.""""

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Presidents

588 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1889

About the author

Henry Cabot Lodge, Ph.D. (History, Harvard University, 1876; M.A., Harvard; LLB, Harvard, 1874; B.A., Harvard College, 1972) was a historian and biographer who was elected U.S. Senator for Massachusetts on the Republican ticket six times, where he served as the first de facto Senate Majority Leader, a position first formally held by his immediate successor, Charles Curtis.

Lodge served on the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. He held the Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1919 until his death, and his staunch opposition to Woodrow Wilson's Treaty of Versailles ensured that the United States never joined the League of Nations and influenced the structure of the later United Nations, to which his grandson, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., served as U.S. Ambassador, 1953–60.