General Washington (John Lopes) reads a proclamation on the Morristown Green, Oct. 16, 2016. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
By Kevin Coughlin
For weeks, the nation has been obsessed with the newest occupant of the Oval Office, and his drive to consolidate and exercise power.
For a few hours on Monday, however, the Washington Association of New Jersey gave members a break from Trump-watching to celebrate an international superstar who astonished the world by purposely relinquishing power — not once, but twice.
Lamb’s Artillery Co. and the 2nd NJ Regiment present colors at the 2017 meeting of the Washington Association of NJ. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
“He valued reputation more than power. Don’t we love that in our leaders?” Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Edward J. Larson said of George Washington, before a packed ballroom at the Madison Hotel in Morris Township.
Larson, a Pepperdine University professor whose 14 books include the New York Times bestseller The Return of George Washington: Uniting the States, 1783-1789, gave the keynote talk at the association’s 143rd annual Washington’s Birthday celebration.
Association members ate cherry pie, sang America the Beautiful and Auld Lang Syne, and saw the National Park Service unveil a bust Jonathan Roberts, association president more than a century ago.
Tom Ross of the National Park Service remembers Jonathan Roberts, past president of the Association, at the 2017 meeting of the Washington Association of NJ. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
Tom Ross, superintendent of the 1,800-acre Morristown National Historical Park, tossed out big numbers from last year’s National Park Service centennial.
Visits to Morristown sites were up 15 percent, to 252,000, and 27 staffers got help from 476 volunteers, who contributed 14,000 hours.
But the most impressive number, perhaps, came from Washington Association President Eileen Cameron.
She said her nonprofit organization raised $1.5 million toward a $1.8 million Discovery Center that Ross said will open in December at the Washington’s Headquarters Museum.
Monday’s dignitary list sported a pair of Buccos–state Sen. Anthony and his son, state Assemblyman Anthony M., both R-25th Dist.– and Morris County Sheriff James Gannon.
One frequent guest who did not make it this year was Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.), who is facing pressure from constituents to hold his first town hall meeting since 2013.
Slideshow photos by Kevin Coughlin
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NEWBURGH: BIRTHPLACE OF THE REPUBLIC?
But the main attraction was George Washington, who contemporaries compared with Cincinnatus, the farmer who saved Rome and then returned to the farm.
General Washington retired to Mount Vernon after defeating the British in the Revolutionary War, and later set a precedent by stepping down after two terms as first president of the United States.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Edward Larson at the 2017 meeting of the Washington Association of NJ. Photo by Kevin Coughlin
To surrender power scarcely was conceivable in the 18th century, Larson said. During the war, Brits scoffed that Americans were rebelling against one King George only to gain another.
When an American in England predicted Washington indeed would retire after the war, a skeptical King George III reportedly replied: “Well, if he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world,” Larson recounted.
And so he was. By walking away from power, Washington became the “world renowned personification of Republican virtue,” the historian said.
Yet Washington’s greatest contribution to the fledgling country, arguably, came in the waning days of the war, Larson said. In 1783, the general defused a simmering mutiny in Newburgh, N.Y., with a performance any reality TV star would envy.
Aggrieved at being stiffed for years by the Continental Congress, soldiers ominously hinted they might not go back to their farms after the war if they did not receive their back pay.
Washington got wind of the officers’ scheduled meeting, ordered it canceled, and rescheduled one with all the troops. He purposely set the date for the Ides of March, the day Brutus betrayed Caesar. Washington implied that he would not attend.
George Washington, sans spectacles.
Of course, he showed up. Upstaging his rival, Gen. Horatio Gates, Washington took the floor to denounce the plotters and remind the troops that he too had made sacrifices — no salary or leave for eight-and-a-half years, Larson said.
Washington attempted to finish his fiery speech by reciting a friendly letter…but paused to don his reading glasses.
“Gentleman, you must pardon me,” the general said, “for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in service to my country.”
