The first and the greatest POTUS George Washington was born this day in 1732.

Ten Notes On George Washington.

1. Kind of like Abraham Lincoln a week ago-what can you say about George Washington that hasn’t been said a million times? GW was 6’2″ 200 pounds. He was one of the most athletic of our presidents. They didn’t have most of the sports that we have today back then. I figure if George Washington was around today he’d be a wide receiver, tight end or linebacker in the NFL. He was one of the best horseman of his day, one of the best dancers. His favourite sport was fox hunting. He was known to love to bet on the races and about anything you could bet on. He had blue eyes and brown hair.

2. The first cabinet George Washington had as POTUS was the best we’ve ever had.  Alexander Hamilton at the Treasury-the greatest cabinet member in American history-to start things off. Then you have Thomas Jefferson at State, Henry Knox at War and Edmund Randolph as Attorney General. It makes every cabinet that that has followed look like a piss-poor bowling team out of Omaha.

3. It is thought that George Washington was our wealthiest POTUS ever. His net worth $525 million dollars. He married the wealthiest widow in Virginia in Martha and it grew from there. He married up for sure.

4. We were very lucky to have George Washington as the first POTUS. He got things started very well. Also he would be the example for others to follow. Imagine if we had someone like Richard Nixon as our first POTUS. I doubt that he would have left office gracefully. George Washington served his two terms and went home to Mount Vernon. The man who could have been King- refused to. Even though it wasn’t a law at the time, the two term limit was the norm until Franklin Roosevelt came along. Washington refusing a 3rd term and going home-his finest moment.

5. I’ve read a number of books about George Washington over the years and I think my favourite one volume work is one that came out a year or so ago- “George Washington: A Life” by Ron Chernow. Excellent read. One volume, over 900 pages, it tells you about all you would want to know about George Washington. Highly recommended.

6. Abraham Lincoln and his father Thomas never saw eye to eye. They had issues and so did George and his mother Mary. From all accounts Mary Washington was difficult. She was always bitching to George and to others about George. George seemed to have handled it as well as a person could. George’s father Augustine died when he was 11. George was the oldest of Augustine and Mary’s children. She depended on him. She was very demanding. She was never happy. During the American Revolution she is said to have disapproved of her son’s politics and was a Loyalist sympathizer. Mary Ball Washington did do something that helped America without knowing it at the time. George was about to join the Royal Navy. At the last minute she refused to let him join claiming she couldn’t do without him. Had he joined the Royal Navy…who knows how history would have been changed.

7.  Hundreds of things have  been named for Washington. 33 counties, 120 villages or towns, 7 mountains, 8 streams, 10 lakes and 9 colleges. Washington, D.C. was of course named for him. The only state that is named for a POTUS-is of course Washington state. The list of things named for George Washington seem endless.

8. George Washington had two step-children, Martha’s children from her first marriage. George and Martha never had children of their own. George was though-the father of his country which sounds like a big enough responsibility.

9. George Washington died right before the 18th century ended-on December 14,1799. A couple days earlier he had been out on horseback inspecting his plantation. The weather turned bad while he was out. He got home and ate his supper in his wet clothes. He developed a severely sore throat. On the day he died he woke up at 3am saying he wasn’t feeling well. He was bled as was common back in that time. Doctors were attending to him but nothing was working. At  about 10pm on Saturday night December 14th he died. His last words “Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go.”

10. George Washington’s second inauguaral address was the shortest one ever. It was only 133 words long. it only took 2 minutes to deliver.