Entering the Conversation

1. In his review of Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow, for the Web site Daily Beast, retired four-star general Wesley Clark writes, “How incredibly fortunate America was to have someone like George Washington emerge as a young man and mature into the extraordinary and towering figure who personified our country and its virtues.” Write an essay in which you examine Clark’s statement, agreeing with, disagreeing with, or qualifying it based on information from the sources here.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Entering the Conversation: - In his review of Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow, for the Web site Daily Beast, retired four-star general Wesley Clark writes, “How incredibly fortunate America was to have someone like George Washington emerge as a young man and mature into the extraordinary and towering figure who personified our country and its virtues.” Write an essay in which you examine Clark’s statement, agreeing with, disagreeing with, or qualifying it based on information from the sources here.
2. To what do you credit George Washington’s mythic status? Write an essay in which you analyze the qualities that Washington has come to represent. Discuss why you think those qualities are particularly American.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Entering the Conversation: - To what do you credit George Washington’s mythic status? Write an essay in which you analyze the qualities that Washington has come to represent. Discuss why you think those qualities are particularly American.
3. In “George Washington, Genius in Leadership,” Richard C. Stazesky, president emeritus of the George Washington Society of Delaware, wrote:

   I believe that the answer points again to the fact that he was eminently successful as the Father of the Country, a title bestowed on him but one which he also appropriated and lived. A truly successful and effective father is one who never claims credit for his achievements in being the father and who inculcates his ideas and values in his offspring so well that they, in fact, do not realize themselves from whence these came; they, therefore, tend just to take them for granted or to credit themselves for them. We all know the story of the college sophomore who was amazed at how seemingly uninformed, even stupid, was his father, only to discover later how informed, bright, and wise his father had become. The ideas that Washington had and lived became so imbued in American institutions and culture, because of his skill as a visionary leader, that we have failed to realize from whence they came, namely, from our national Father, George Washington.

   Use the sources here—and other information about Washington—to address the question of George Washington as both a literal and a figurative father figure.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Entering the Conversation: - In “George Washington, Genius in Leadership,” Richard C. Stazesky, president emeritus of the George Washington Society of Delaware, wrote:I believe that the answer points again to the fact that he was eminently successful as the Father of the Country, a title bestowed on him but one which he also appropriated and lived. A truly successful and effective father is one who never claims credit for his achievements in being the father and who inculcates his ideas and values in his offspring so well that they, in fact, do not realize themselves from whence these came; they, therefore, tend just to take them for granted or to credit themselves for them. We all know the story of the college sophomore who was amazed at how seemingly uninformed, even stupid, was his father, only to discover later how informed, bright, and wise his father had become. The ideas that Washington had and lived became so imbued in American institutions and culture, because of his skill as a visionary leader, that we have failed to realize from whence they came, namely, from our national Father, George Washington.Use the sources here—and other information about Washington—to address the question of George Washington as both a literal and a figurative father figure.
4. Professor William M. Etter, writing about the myth of George Washington’s wooden teeth in the Encyclopedia of George Washington’s Mount Vernon, notes:

   Washington did actually experience great discomfort and facial distortion with his cumbersome metal and ivory dentures. Moreover, the belief that Washington had to use teeth made out of ordinary wood—as opposed to the technologically advanced and expensive contraptions he actually did wear—helps make Washington more accessible to the general public as a common person with everyday struggles. Perhaps this myth has endured because it balances Washington’s imposing status in American history and the idealized images of the man presented in other myths like the Cherry Tree legend and, in doing so, humanizes an individual who may often seem remote and statuesque.

   In what other ways do we see Washington humanized? Do those efforts work? Do you think it’s important for a public figure to be brought down to size, or should he or she be “larger than life”? Write an essay in which you discuss the pros and cons of Washington’s larger-than-life status. Consider today’s public figures and the ways in which they are at times humanized and at times blown up larger than life.

   Question

   ALMF/kS1zzW73MouRsoXk1h0lKY=

   Entering the Conversation: - Professor William M. Etter, writing about the myth of George Washington’s wooden teeth in the Encyclopedia of George Washington’s Mount Vernon, notes:Washington did actually experience great discomfort and facial distortion with his cumbersome metal and ivory dentures. Moreover, the belief that Washington had to use teeth made out of ordinary wood—as opposed to the technologically advanced and expensive contraptions he actually did wear—helps make Washington more accessible to the general public as a common person with everyday struggles. Perhaps this myth has endured because it balances Washington’s imposing status in American history and the idealized images of the man presented in other myths like the Cherry Tree legend and, in doing so, humanizes an individual who may often seem remote and statuesque.In what other ways do we see Washington humanized? Do those efforts work? Do you think it’s important for a public figure to be brought down to size, or should he or she be “larger than life”? Write an essay in which you discuss the pros and cons of Washington’s larger-than-life status. Consider today’s public figures and the ways in which they are at times humanized and at times blown up larger than life.