The Making of the President 1789: The Unauthorized Campaign Biography

It's been said that if you like sausage and respect the law you should never watch either being made. The same goes for history especially when it involves our Founding Fathers. You remember them from school, don't you? Those titans that strode upon the earth and gave us Truth, Justice, and The American Way? Those demigods who forged the American Government for the good of one and all? I suppose that it really shoudn't come as a great surprise that not only were their feet made of clay, but pretty much all of the rest of them was to. We won't go into the slave ownership, phoney land deals and other shenanigans that they were up too, that would take too long and would probably upset too many of my delicate Readers. No, we are here to focus on the most marble of the demigods, George Washington. Until I read this book, I always had a discomfort nagging at the back of my mind as to how he got to be President in the first place. He wasn't a very brilliant politician, he bearly spoke in the House of Burgesses, but hedid know how to through a great party. His major military accomplichment was starting the French and Indian War. During the Revolutionary War he only managed to win 2 of the major battles that he fought, one against drunken Hessians the other only because the French fleet showed up before the British and had a massive infusion of French troops. As to his personal life, let's just say he could make Bill Clinton look like a monk. Did I like the book? Most definitly. We all know that the Founding Fathers weren't marble gods and its refreshing to be reminded of this fact, especially around election time. Is all of the stuff about Washington true? Given the number of references and foot notes, probably as true as it can be given the whitewashing of Washigton that began with Martha burning incriminating letters practically from the second that he died. Besides, as we all know, when legend and truth meet, print the legend. Or at the very least, print the juicy stuff. It reads better.

If you can handle Marvin Kitman's repeated attempts to knock Washington off his pedestal you'll enjoy this book. I was one of those public grade school kids who labored under his stern contenance. He must have been god. Or at least god's right hand man. We outgrew this. We know he was just a man. A highly flawed man according to Kitman. Flawed, yes, but also good & lucky. George Washington was America first celebrity. We weren't going to be denied. He lost most of the battles but he did win the Revolutionary War. Actually the British tired of it and lost it. This ultimate politician was not political. In essence he was the only game in town. He had Morris & Hamilton as his spin-meisters, shady land deals & girlfriends (Beginning to sound familiar?). He looked like a hero, acted like a hero, mostly told the truth although he didn't talk much. He was very brave & loyal especially to the electoral college delegates. Kitman asserts that the U.S. Constitution was written especially with Washington in mind. That may be true. They both have survived, no thanks to Kitman