One of the most popular words in American politics today is "character." Authors Spalding and Garrity present George Washington not only as a president of impeccable personal credentials, but also as a man who had important lessons for the American people regarding the character of their leaders. These lessons are embodied in his Farewell Address, which is best remembered for its warning against foreign entanglements. Yet it's really a meditation on how a nation can cultivate the habits, morals and civic virtues necessary for stable self-government. Bonus for history buffs: Daniel Boorstin writes the introduction.
In this election year, it's fitting to remember our only unopposed president and the farewell address that set the standard. Congress regularly reprints it, but there has been little analytical popular literature on this seminal address. (There would not be another significant one until Eisenhower's warning about the military-industrial complex 164 years later.) Despite rumblings about Francophobic touches, the farewell address is a document that attempts to set out a rationale for the Union and its conservative foreign policy. Yet Spalding (Heritage Foundation) and Garrity (Claremont Inst.) focus as much on the effect of Washington's character on the new republic as on his speech. The first few chapters constitute a brief biography that gets us past the mythological facade that Parson Weems created. The bulk of the book outlines Washington's efforts to impress his character traits on the new government and to establish its course. With the full text of the farewell address appended, this is a good choice for both academic and public libraries.?James Doyle, Macomb Community Coll., Warren, Mich.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.