Any worthwhile list of Pantheon-level American icons must include men like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton.
In their day, those great men sometimes quarreled and sometimes collaborated. But they all had one thing in common: they all recognized George Washington as the greatest man of their age.
Small wonder, therefore, that when President Donald Trump has asked visitors to the Oval Office whether Washington’s portrait or a portrait of former President Ronald Reagan deserves the most prominent place for display — a question Trump has asked more than 200 times — the answer has come back unanimous: Washington every time.
Earlier this week, Trump sat down for an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham. Afterward, the president gave Ingraham a tour of the Oval Office.
There, he posed the question again.
“So here’s a question I ask,” Trump said. “So Reagan has a place of prominence, and George Washington has a place of prominence. And I’ve asked this question maybe two hundred times [when] people come in.”
The camera panned the Oval Office to reveal large portraits of Reagan and Washington. Smaller portraits of many other presidents also hung on the wall.
“I said, ‘So, who would you put in the place of prominence, George Washington or Ronald Reagan?’ Who would you put?” Trump continued.
Ingraham thought for a split second and then answered “Washington.”
Who would you want to see in the Oval Office most?
“So far it’s 219 to zero,” Trump replied. “And they like Reagan.”
Readers may view the entire Oval Office tour here. The brief exchange about Washington and Reagan began around the 2:38 mark.
Of course, every now and then one’s personal heroes must take a back seat to genuine historical legends.
Reagan — undoubtedly a hero to many readers, including the present writer — would himself have acknowledged Washington’s transcendent greatness. The 40th president had too much humility and reverence for American history not to have done so.
First, for perspective on the American Revolution, consider the fact that roughly three million people lived in Britain’s thirteen American colonies by 1776, and nearly half a million of those lived in slavery.
Imagine finding the likes of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and other patriots of slightly lesser stature all residing in the modern-day city of Chicago, which, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, had a population of approximately 2.66 million people in 2023.
That kind of reflection on the improbable quality of early American leadership makes the Revolution seem like a miraculous event.
Then, imagine that one man towered above all in the estimation of the others.
Why did Washington’s contemporaries hold him in such high regard? In short, it came down to character.
In bygone days, while teaching History to undergraduates, I often told students that they could trust only two people with power: Washington and Harry Potter. Of course I did not mean that literally; I said it in order to make a point. In the wizarding world, Potter could have had immense power, but he gave it up instead. Washington did likewise. But Potter sprang from author J.K. Rowling’s fertile imagination, whereas Washington actually lived.
In fact, Washington willingly gave up power twice, once when he resigned from the Continental Army rather than impose a military government on the fledgling states, and again when he chose not to seek a third term as president.
Moreover, long before serving as president, Washington ranked among the richest men in the colonies. He did not need the Revolution in order to make his name and fortune. Like Franklin, he had already built a reputation as a great man inside the British Empire.
That fact often gets lost in the story. In a material sense, Washington had everything to lose by challenging the establishment of his day. But he and his fellow patriots risked it in order to fight the creeping authoritarianism of an increasingly insufferable British colonial officialdom.
Indeed, in that respect Washington bore perhaps a stronger resemblance to Trump than to most other presidents. Actor Sylvester Stallone certainly thought so.
Thus, much as we admire Reagan, Trump’s Oval Office visitors had it right.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
