A few years ago, before the pandemic curtailed many activities, my husband and I spent months on the road, traveling all around the country. One of our last stops was Mount Rushmore where we saw the gigantic heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. I kept waiting for Cary Grant to emerge from Lincoln's nostril (did you see North by Northwest?) but no such luck. (Actually, rewatching the movie, I realized that although Grant and Eva Maria Saint clambered over Thomas Jefferson, the scene imprinted in my brain never happened, but that is neither here nor there.)
I've been thinking about those great presidents and, it has to be admitted, thinking about the future of the American presidency. None of them were perfect. Modern writers and filmmakers delight in exposing feet of clay. Washington and Jefferson were slave owners. Roosevelt had an unsettling enthusiasm for killing things, shouting “Holy Godfrey, what fun!” as he shot Spanish soldiers on San Juan Hill. Lincoln has fared best although perhaps not in places that still fly the Confederate flag. But with all of their flaws, think of the amazing things they accomplished.
I didn't just meet the presidents at Mount Rushmore. I dined at a tavern Washington frequented in Williamsburg. I visited Jefferson's home. I stood on the site where Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address. I travelled to National Parks, Monuments, and Forests that Roosevelt preserved for the American people. All four left an awe-inspiring legacy. For that we can be grateful, but flaws that were glossed over in the past, or accepted as the norm, should not and cannot be tolerated today. And yet, the horrific behavior of our past President has been, and is being, celebrated by an alarming percentage of Americans. The United States needs more than four years to get the tarnish off of the presidency. It needs the moral compass of an entire political party to be reset. And it needs all of us to vote.
"Mr. President" : George Washington and the making of the nation's highest office / Unger, Harlow G., 973.41092 UNG
George Washington : the Founding Father / Johnson, Paul, 973.4 JOH
George Washington's Rules of Civility: with an introduction and annotations by Adam Haslett /Washington, George 973.41092 WAS
Inventing George Washington : America's founder, in myth and memory / Lengel, Edward G. 973.4 LEN
The Jefferson Bible /Jefferson, Thomas, ed. 220.5 JEF/
Thomas Jefferson / Harness, Cheryl. JB JEF
Thomas Jefferson : genius of liberty / 973.4 THO
Abe Lincoln : the boy who loved books / Winters, Kay. J B LIN
Abraham Lincoln : redeemer President / Guelzo, Allen C. B LIN
Abraham Lincoln comes home / Burleigh, Robert. E BUR
The Gettysburg gospel : the Lincoln speech that nobody knows / Boritt, G. S., 973.7 BOR
Lincoln : a photobiography / Freedman, Russell. J B LIN
Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney : slavery, secession, and the president's war powers / Simon, James F. 342.73 SIM
Lincoln and the Jews : a history / Sarna, Jonathan D., 973.70892 SAR
Lincoln through the lens : how photography revealed and shaped an extraordinary life / Sandler, Martin W. YA 973.7092 SAN
Lincoln: the untold stories/DVD LIN
Mr. Lincoln & the Negroes; the long road to equality. Douglas, William O. 973.7 DOU
Team of rivals : the political genius of Abraham Lincoln / Goodwin, Doris Kearns. 973.7 GOO
When Abraham talked to the trees /Farnsworth, Bill J B LIN
An autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt / Roosevelt, Theodore, B ROO
The big burn : Teddy Roosevelt and the fire that saved America / Egan, Timothy. 973.911 EGA
The bully pulpit : Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of journalism / Goodwin, Doris Kearns. 973.911 GOO
The river of doubt : Theodore Roosevelt's darkest journey / Millard, Candice. 918.1 MIL
Theodore Roosevelt : the adventurous president / J B ROO
Young Teddy Roosevelt / Harness, Cheryl. J B ROO