George Washington did not have an easy time as president for a number of reasons:
1. How to Act Like a President
2. Developing a Presidential Style
3. The Institutional Workings of the Presidency
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As the first president of the fledgling United States, George Washington faced a daunting task.
By Joanne B. Freeman
America as a new nation and America as a fragile nation: Both ideas had an enormous shaping influence during Washington's presidency, a period of his career that, oddly, doesn't usually receive much attention. I think that in the minds of most Americans, when the Revolution ends and George Washington is no longer a general, he somehow becomes a block of marble at the head of our government—the ultimate figurehead—not really doing much and certainly not feeling much as a real human being.
Yet in fact, Washington as president could be a very savvy political player, and he certainly had a whole host of feelings and reactions as a very real person in a very difficult situation. He wasn't always sure how to handle things; he sometimes made mistakes. He was sometimes awkward, embarrassed, or nervous.
Just read this account of his first address to Congress just after taking the oath of office in 1789, as witnessed by Senator William Maclay. Maclay writes:
This great Man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was by the levelled Cannon or pointed Musket. [H]e trembled, and several times could scarce make out to read, tho it must be supposed he had often read it before... When he came to the Words all the World, he made a flourish with his right hand, which left rather an ungainly impression. I sincerely, for my part, wished all set ceremony in the hands of the dancing Masters, and that this first of Men, had read off, his address, in the plainest Manner without ever taking his Eyes From... the paper[,] for I felt hurt, that he was not first in every thing.
1. How to Act Like a President
2. Developing a Presidential Style
3. The Institutional Workings of the Presidency
Award-winning journalist and author Cokie Roberts discusses Washington's savviness.
Joanne B. Freeman is a professor of history at Yale University specializing in the politics and political culture of the revolutionary and early national periods of American History. She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Virginia.
The Honorable Anthony Kennedy, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, discusses the development of the presidency within the newly established government.