America’s first president could teach a thing or two to those vying for the presidency today. That goes for President Trump as much as it does for his Democratic would-be challengers.
Under the most trying circumstances, George Washington repeatedly proved that a president does the most good for his nation and for himself if he places patriotism ahead of his personal interest.
Neither Trump nor any of the Democratic presidential primary field will rise to Washington’s stature. Washington, after all, led his people to freedom, then endowed them with the political means and institutions to thrive for centuries. But those who wish to lead America owe it to themselves and to their country to learn two particularly important lessons from Washington’s life.
First, Washington recognized that his legacy would not be defined by his power or accomplishments in any one moment, but rather by the durability of his actions in serving America’s sustaining interest. Washington’s standout example in this regard is his December 1783 resignation as Continental Army commander in chief. Having won an arduous war against overwhelming odds, Washington could have easily used his military authority to assert effective dictatorship over the new nation. He did not, and this may be why the nation he founded is still here.
Taking his example from Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus more than 2,100 years earlier, Washington ensured that control over the republic’s military power would always ultimately rest its with civilian leaders. It was an extraordinary act of humility, unprecedented in modern world history. And to this day, the most powerful military in the history of the Earth remains solidly under the dominion of elected civilian leaders.
For his part, Trump should see here that the true import of his presidency is a long-term one. Any short-term deals he makes will be forgotten, whether his term ends in January 2021 or January 2025, and Trump should consider what historians will say of him if his legacy is marked only by a temporarily strong economy and his celebratory vanquishing of Democratic opponents.
Joe Biden should recognize Washington’s example in that good leaders know when to step aside. Trailing badly in the primary polls and reverberating between occasional moments of energy and many moments of oddity, Biden no longer has a path to his party’s nomination. The more people see of 2020 candidate Biden, the less they seem to want his presidency. But were Biden to step aside now, he would at least secure his long-term legacy as a two-term vice president and longtime senator who found wide respect across the political spectrum — something rare in our nation today.
Speaking of which, Washington also set an example with his warning that political partisanship and factionalism must never be allowed to triumph over the popular unity. Washington’s second term saw the development of an increasingly partisan political landscape, and he even used his farewell address to set a marker. The president implored his fellow citizens to recognize “the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness … indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.”
Those words would serve the union in the darkest hours of the Civil War.
The lesson here is most important for the Democratic field’s left-wing candidates. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has a realistic shot at the Democratic nomination, is premised on the idea that one group of people is deliberately acting to harm the rest. Sanders does not simply complain that businesses and wealthier Americans are successful; he calls for the destruction of their capital in service of the people. Both Sanders and Trump must learn not to campaign based on the fear of others — especially not of fellow Americans.
The next U.S. president will not match up to Washington, no matter how successful he is. But that doesn’t mean our first president’s example shouldn’t inspire those who wish to lead us now. It can, and it always should.
