Washington also lit many fires that he hoped would fix the eyes of his countrymen and serve as points of inspiration and emulation for generations.
For decades his example did just that and his February 22nd birthday, not “Presidents’ Day,” served to remind Americans of their greatest hero and the values and principles upon which the nation was built. This year we need him more than ever.
Setting the Tone
From the beginning he understood the office of president was unlike any other at that time on the world stage — a freely elected executive magistrate, but also a symbolic representative. Political power united with republican dignity. It was he who would have to combine them and set the proper tone for future presidents. In May 1789 he would write to James Madison, “As the first in everything, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent, it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles.” His were. To the degree that our recent presidents and presidential candidates strayed from his example, our culture has been impoverished and our democracy diminished.
During the recent campaign, George W. Bush took to pledging that if elected he would swear to uphold the dignity of the office of president, inviting the obvious comparisons with President Clinton. So far, he seems to be doing just that and he would do well now to revisit at least three elements of Washington's legacy that speak so clearly to modern America. Washington strove to uphold and make himself a living symbol of the rule of law, he observed and taught the civilizing rules of gentlemanly virtue, and he also worked to set the proper tone for acting “presidential.”
Never in his public career did Washington hold himself or his associates above the rules that governed other men. Remarkable in human history, Washington repeatedly resigned power (both military and political) voluntarily and with grace. He was twice given dictatorial authority during the revolution and never abused that trust in order to achieve a goal. During the war for independence he never failed to turn over to civilian authorities every one of his men accused of violating the rights of civilians. Even though he knew many of the accusations were baseless, he never demagogued, delayed, or attempted to obstruct legal proceedings.
On Being Presidential
On numerous occasions as president he denied his own power to act and that of the federal government, even when he and his cabinet desired the potential result. The republic was more important than the man; the rule of law more worthy than the policy goals of the moment.
As a boy, Washington copied a list of 110 “Rules of Civility.” That list is still available in bookstores today and one can see in it the makings of a gentlemen and a statesman who would come to understand how central right conduct among citizens is to the flourishing of a free political system. The founding generation chose well in elevating him to the presidency — an office that more than any other belies the modern attempt to separate private conduct from public responsibility. Indeed, Washington’s stellar public reputation was at least in part based upon his deportment in private. He acted properly in both settings, teaching virtue and proper conduct to those around him and those who would hear of his actions.
Similarly, Washington set a standard for being “presidential” that remains unsurpassed. As he himself would write, he strove to create a “just medium between much state and too great familiarity.” This remains to this day one of the great challenges of presidential leadership — creating a healthy balance between formality, dignity, and proper conduct on the one hand, and popular familiarity and democratic accountability on the other.
Being presidential is about more than policy proposals and its even about more than being president itself. It is also about how you become president and even how you leave the office when your tenure is over.
Though everyone in the nation knew he had unanimously been selected as the first president in December 1788, he refused to leave his home and claim his position until officially notified by Congress after they had counted the votes — an occasion that didn’t occur until two months after the date on which he was to be sworn into office. Despite acute personal financial difficulties that reduced him to borrowing money for the trip to his inauguration, he then insisted his pay be docked for those two months not in service. The constitutional system was bigger than his personal ambitions or financial need.
The Michael Jordan Analogy
A president serves his office by the way he leaves it as well. When Michael Jordan left basketball for the final time, he went out at the top of his game gracefully making the final shot of his career. Washington bowed out of public life with a similar dignity and grace befitting a great man and a great nation. At the inauguration of his successor, John Adams, Washington, the ex-president, elder statesman, hero of the Revolution, the man that was very much first in the hearts of his countrymen, very deliberately motioned even the new vice president, Thomas Jefferson, to precede him off the dais.
To Washington, America was about constitutional procedures and not any cult of personality. The inauguration was to be the beginning of something new for America, rather than being another excuse for the public stroking of a presidential ego. There were no post-inaugural pep rallies diverting attention from the new president, no appropriation of public property for private use, no large demands for public support in his private life, and certainly no last-minute pardons of fugitives from justice. Washington cared more about setting the proper tone for the nation than he did about his own glory or even his bank account.
Modern presidents live a life of privilege and opulence unknown to Washington. And yet even in their motorcades and on Air Force One, so many of them seem so small by his majestic strides. Modern presidents cannot be George Washingtons, but we should be thankful that the current George W. seems to have the inclination to be presidential.
During George Washington's birthday week, we might hope that our new president and all those who dream of someday occupying his office, would take time to sit with the fires Washington built to light our path and resolve to restore the office to the honorable place Washington helped secure for it more than two centuries ago.
(This article can also be found on National Review Online.)
