I had a summertime visit to SAIS in DC, and also took some time to stop in at a place (I’m quite embarrassed to say) I’d never visited before: Mount Vernon. George Washington’s home sits majestically above the Potomac River, in Virginia about 15 miles from the Washington Monument — and he and his wife Martha are interred there as well. It is a fascinating place, steeped in history about our country’s early founding – and the incredible man who helped bring it about.

It also gave me a ready excuse to be contrarian…. for while the rest of the country has spent this summer reading Ron Chernow’s classic work Alexander Hamilton (the inspiration for the hit Broadway play), I sat down with another one of his books: Washington: A Life. This latter magnum opus won the Pulitzer Prize for biography, and does a masterful job in describing Washington’s life, as well as the major problems he faced with both fortitude and skill.

The book suggests that while his Revolutionary War battlefield skills were notable, a more significant accomplishment rested in simply keeping the Continental Army as a functioning entity. Similarly, I hadn’t realized the substantial hostility he faced in his second presidential term, as political battles raged between the Federalists and Republicans. In my Pollution Markets book, I had described how the differing views of those two parties had a significant impact on environmental conditions in urban Philadelphia at that time. Washington had initially sought to act as an independent arbiter between the parties early in his administration, but his views were more closely attuned to those of Hamilton and the Federalists…. and Republicans were not to be appeased. The resulting schism was very deep indeed, and could not be bridged even by this Revolutionary War hero.

A comparable split is evident in our politics today…. although when reading books like this (or David McCullough’s wonderful John Adams, another Pulitzer Prize winning biography), one can’t help but wish that the intellectual and literary talents of those competitors (Hamilton, Washington & Adams for the Federalists and Jefferson, Madison and Monroe for Republicans) were still in evidence, given the magnitude of today’s problems. Instead, we have one major political party that is anti-science, led by a narcissistic and uninformed political leader who appears to be anti-fact as well….. almost the complete opposite of a Washington.

Chernow wrote that Washington’s “instincts were the antithesis of a demagogue’s: he feared his own influence and agonized over exerting too much power.” Washington himself wrote: “We have abundant reason to rejoice that, in this land, the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition.” In this very, very worrisome political season, let us hope that this great Founding Father’s words and beliefs still hold true.