We’ve got presidents on the mind this week. After sharing the saga of British disdain for "Bozo" Reagan in the 1980s, we're throwing it back old-school with our presidential OG, George Washington. We all know the basics about our first president: His service in the Revolutionary War, his integral role as a founding father, his willingness to take on leadership of the fledging democratic experiment and then abdicate power...not to mention some unsavory bits like ownership of slaves and a touch of temper.
In lieu of telling you what you already know, here are five lesser-known facts about this colonial man, myth, legend and YouTube sensation.
1) He’s officially the highest-ranking military officer...ever.
Washington was a lieutenant general at the time of his death, but 20th century officials decided this rank was unfitting to so significant a military figure. Sure, he may have “lost more battles than any victorious general in modern history,” as one historian points out. But in the grand scheme, he established the enduring framework for relations between civilian leaders and soldiers (e.g., we don’t have the unfortunate scenario of our military running politics, as is the case in various other countries).
So in 1976, Washington was posthumously awarded the highest rank of all time (envision a thunderous, echoing narrator here): General of the Armies of the United States!
2) He made bank in the White House.
Though he had some cash flow issues leading up to the presidency—he even had to borrow money to attend his own first inauguration—once in the White House, Washington was sitting pretty. In 1789, his presidential salary was 2 percent of the total U.S. budget. Thankfully, that’s no longer the case for presidents, or Obama would be making a tidy $75 billion or so per year (yes, I calculated that out).
3) He was one of the sickest presidents in history.
We don't mean "sick" in the cool slang sense here, though some argue that's true, too. Throughout Washington's life and time in the White House, he suffered from a litany of horrific ailments: diphtheria, tuberculosis, smallpox, dysentery, malaria, tonsillitis, carbuncle, pneumonia, epiglottitis and possibly periodontal disease (you’ve no doubt heard of his notoriously poor teeth)—to name a few. Some of these illnesses reportedly altered his appearance in a significant way, and may have even rendered him infertile. Yep, 18th century living sucked hard, even for the most presidential of citizens.
4) He wasn’t terribly religious.
A blow to Tea Partiers across the land, most modern historians seem to agree that Washington had a tempered relationship with religion. One biographer says he didn’t live “by a particular Christian theology. We can say he was not an atheist on the one hand, but on the other hand, he was not a devout Christian." Another concurs that while Washington attended church, he wouldn’t take communion, and that his “practice of Christianity was limited and superficial, because he was not himself a Christian. In the enlightened tradition of his day, he was a devout Deist."
Moreover, it looks like the much-painted story of Washington kneeling in prayer at a snowy Valley Forge was actually just made up by an early Washington biographer. But your Arnold Friberg-loving grandma doesn’t need to know that.
5) He was widely criticized in the press in the later years of his presidency.
It’s hard to imagine given the near-deity level of worship effused on Washington today, but toward the end of his presidency the General of the Armies was criticized for being neutrality in overseas conflicts and monarchical. Though some of the naysayers were other prominent founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson, observers noted there were times in which the presidential mansion “was surrounded by innumerable multitudes, from day to day buzzing, demanding war against England, cursing Washington.” If Washington had any temptation to hold onto power, perhaps controversy like this helped spur him to the door.
So there you have it—five colorful facts to enliven your image of George Washington and the earliest stage of our country. You may now break into an impromptu USA chant, if so desired.
Image: the OG, lookin' cool. Courtesy of, ThinkStock
