Review by Roger Bishop
When George Washington was chosen to lead the Continental Army in 1775 he had had only five years experience as a field officer. In that role he suffered serious setbacks and never won an engagement with the enemy. In 1789, he was elected president although he had little real political experience: a short period as a congressman and 15 years as a rather inattentive member of the Virginia House of burgesses. Despite the enormity of the responsibilities placed upon him -- the criticism, infighting, and plots from both friends and enemies, the multitude of problems and frustrations, and above all, the overwhelming reality that there were no precedents for him to follow -- Washington succeeded magnificently.
In his outstanding new biography, "George Washington: A Life" Willard Sterne Randall helps us to understand why and how this was so. The author presents a carefully documented life that is also a delight to read. Washington is seen within the context of his times; there is no attempt to romanticize him or the era.
As he did in his last book, a splendid biography of Thomas Jefferson, the author emphasizes the importance of his subject's development before he became a prominent national figure. In Washington's case, his five years of frustrating frontier warfare in the Seven Years War (or, as we call it, the French and Indian War) were crucial. His "first war formed him. He learned to endure terrible hardships and he suffered serious illness. He came close to dying from disease and was shot at on at least five occasions . . . he never won more than a skirmish. He lost a fort. He surrendered a regiment. He failed in his mission to protect the Virginia frontier, and he went home before the war was over and missed out on the final defeat of the French."
His ambition and vanity were great but so was his luck. "He not only survived five years of appalling hardship and many serious mistakes, but he escaped blame for most of the fiascoes in which he found himself involved." He also established a reputation as "an excellent commander," "sincere friend" and "affable companion" in the words of other officers with whom he served. Although he was born into Virginia's aristocracy, in a sense Washington was a self-made man. Only 11 when his father died, he had an uneasy relationship with his mother. She often disagreed with him on career and other decisions. She was not impressed with her son's achievements and remained to the end of her life a Loyalist sympathizer. Poorly educated in a formal sense, Washington read practical books that served him well as a surveyor, planter, military and political leader. His observation and experience also served him well.
Randall gives us a solid overview of the Revolutionary War, highlighting Washington's challenges, victories and defeats. The general's strengths included "the capacity to fathom the motives of men and then to play off them to his own advantage that gave (him) power and enabled him to keep in the face of the acknowledged enemy." He was also a "creative, patient, micromanaging logistical genius."
As president, Washington steered a moderate course. He was often caught between the policy differences of his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and his Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. His tough-minded appraisal of events here and abroad kept us from disaster. He had critics in the congress and among the press, but his reputation remained high among the people after eight often difficult years.
Randall's exceedingly well-crafted biography is a book to be savored.
Roger Bishop is contributing editor to this publication.
©1997, ProMotion, inc.