My wife and I have been watching on DVD the George Washington miniseries, and we just finished watching the John Adams miniseries. The more I learn of George Washington, (and he was my hero when I first read a biography of him when I was in third grade) the more I agree with Flexner’s subtitle of “the Indispensable Man.”
The more I learn of history, the more I see how rare he was, and how so often revolutions and civil wars end so badly. History has more Robepierres, Napoleons, and Stalins than George Washingtons.
There were so many occasions when Washington singlehandedly prevented us from going the way of the Latin American banana republics.
(I know this is a bit off topic, but I was moved to comment.)
Well said. My favorite comparison is to the Roman, Cincinnatus. Like GW, he was a farmer. At the beginning of a war during the early republic, he was given dictatorial power for six months. After defeating Rome’s enemy, he simply returned to his farm.
Yes, GW was THE Indispensable Man.