Central Michigan Life

Issue date: 3/12/08 Section: News

Edward Countryman, a history professor at Southern Methodist University, speaks about George Washington on Monday night in the Charles V. Park Library Auditorium. Countryman's presentation, titled "Getting to Know George Washington," was the first presentation sponsored by the William T. Bulger History Endowment. [Click to enlarge]

Many portraits of George Washington show the first U.S. president's patriotism, said author and lecturer Edward Countryman.

"They show him as an indispensable man," he said. "But he knew he was mortal."

Countryman was the speaker Monday for "Getting To Know George Washington," an inaugural event in the Charles V. Park Library Auditorium sponsored by the William T. Bulger History Endowment.

He went into great detail in describing the man that Washington was.

"Washington's house and grounds describe its owner," he said. "Although the house appears to be made of stone, it is made of wood. On the outside, it appears to be English, but it is all-American."

Countryman, a distinguished lecturer for the Organization of American Historians, won the Bancroft Prize for his book, "A People in Revolution: The American Revolution Political Society in New York."

He compared Washington to Founding Fathers such as Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. He said Washington was not just a man of Virginia, but a man of America.

Countryman used Washington's relationship with the first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton as an example for his argument. He said Washington and Hamilton remained close friends despite disagreeing on many issues.

Washington chose to grow wheat on his plantation, Countryman said, rather than the typical Virginian who grew tobacco. He also commented on the state of historical biographies.

"I am not a biographer, but I have been blindsided," he said. "I am worried about new biographies about the Founding Fathers. Writers continue to remove the tragedy out of American history."

About 80 people attended the event.

"It was definitely informative," said Fenton freshman Andrea Packard, who attended the event for a class.

Timothy Hall, history chairman, said the department was lucky to get Countryman to speak at CMU.

"He is a very distinguished professor and a very good speaker," Hall said.


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