Washington was worthy of honor because the last thing he had done with power was to resign it. Others grasped it, even abroad. George III said his retirement from the presidency, coupled with his resignation as Commander in Chief fourteen years earlier, “placed him in a light the most distinguished of any man living,” and that he was “the greatest character of the age.”
Richard Brookhiser characterizing George Washington and quoting King George III in Founding Father (1996), p. 103.
1 reply on “Richard Brookhiser”
That says a lot when a former enemy of Washington, a ruler who once would have executed him for treason would say what he did. Would that we would men of that caliber in government today.