Historians seem to be obsessed with George Washington’s thighs. Was he really what they painted him to be?

We all know Family stories about George Washington. The cherry tree that fell. (Except he didn’t.) Lies he never told. (Their wooden teeth. (Except they weren’t – they were ivory teeth and real teeth taken from their slave workers.)

But if you read the main Biography No Washington, you will find something else that appears again and again. According to the most famous historians of WashingtonThe first was about the president Heart attack thigh.

Ron Chernow Author ofWashington: A Life“Focused on his “masculinity”, especially his “Wide hips And flared up with Muscular thighs” Richard Brookhiser Author ofFounding Fathers: Rediscovering George Washington“, highlighted her “well-developed” thighs and quoted a bodybuilder who examined her portrait. Washington and said: “Nice Quads”. Joseph J. Alice creator of “His Majesty: George Washington“, he wrote that his “Very strong thighs and legs…They allowed him to firmly hold the horse’s hindquarters and sit in the saddle with unusual ease.

It drives crazy Alexis Co. when coe He decided to write his own Biography No Washington 2020, “You never forget your first” (never forget the first), he was struck by a small number Biography Written by the first president women either people of color. Instead, they seemed to be written by almost all, and most, white men. “The women And people of color “They are not considered readers of presidential history,” he says. “And I think it has to do with the emphasis on this masculinity“

For example, the fact that Washington I didn’t have children Biological. Male biographers, point out coeThey believe that those who believe begin to lean back to assign responsibility not to the virile general coePerhaps left desolate by illness in his youth—but for his wife, Martha, who actually proved her fertility by having children from her first marriage. (Chernov, Brookheiser, Alice and his publicists did not respond to requests for comment).

“Women and people of color are not considered readers of presidential history”Illuminates the realities that have permeated the field of presidential biographies.

at the time of Washington This obsession with his body that does not seem to have consumed so much of posterity. Washington He suffered an endless series of ailments, including two thigh infections (one of which kept him bedridden for six weeks shortly after becoming president). And its powerful horse’s feet They seem to have failed him when he fell off his saddle and had to use crutches to get around.

in fact, Washington He used his perceived weakness to his advantage. While directing Continental Army, his soldiers threatened to desert because of the delay in payment of their salaries. According to coe, Washington He put on his new ones glasses And addressed the group of officials: “Gentlemen, you must excuse me. “I have grown gray in your service and now consider myself blind.”. He retired and went without pay for several years.

WashingtonNeedless to say, won War of Independence With his mind, not his body. He didn’t have the best strength, but he was a A cunning strategist And preacherand led an expedition espionage As the underrated British spy said George Beckwith: “Washington was not really ahead of the British. He just spoiled us. “.

“I think we should talk about her body,” he said. coe, “But I think we’re talking about the wrong parties.” as John F. Kennedy And other presidents, he noted, Washington He endured intense physical trials that influenced his leadership. Their fight against Smallpox inspired his troops to vaccinate early in the war; That decision, he said coewould have helped the rebel force to win.

This presidentsLike everyone else Public figures, has long subjected his body to scrutiny. Even an excellent physical condition does not protect them from ridicule. Gerald Forda star College footballAnant was the subject of endless ridicule (also in “Saturday Night Live”) he stumbled down the stairs Air Force One In 1975.

when Ford Congressman was Lyndon B. Johnson By saying this, he made fun of his mental acuity “Played football too long without a helmet”. It’s not new or surprising to critics President Biden Make their age, memory and fragility a campaign issue. Fixation by the body of presidents It goes back to the first of them.

was Washington Some exemplary thighs? To coe He doesn’t like the line of inquiry. But “if I have to answer that question,” he says, his thigh “They were very good, but I don’t think they were the best of the time”. all of them founders They had beautiful parts. My favorite will be his service.”

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