First Action Hero
Get ready for George Washington, man of intrigue.
BY BRENDAN MINITER
Tuesday, August 20, 2002 12:01 a.m. EDT
MOUNT VERNON, Va.--Get ready for a George Washington you've never met. He's a man of action, who at 22 led 200 men into the "Ohio country." There he attacked a small band of Indians, killing a French diplomat. It became an opening salvo in a global conflict that cost the French their colonies in North America.
But before the French and Indian War was over, Washington found himself on another ill-fated expedition. Ambushed by the French and with his commander, Gen. Braddock, mortally wounded, Washington rallied the men. During the battle four bullets passed through his coat and two horses gave out from under him. He emerged an international hero.
This is the George Washington the Founding Fathers knew when they tapped him to lead the army against the British. And it's the adventurous Washington, before, during and after the Revolution, that the Mount Vernon Ladies Association hopes a new generation of Americans will embrace.
There's only one problem. With a new 15-minute film in the works--something Steven Spielberg has expressed interest in helping with--as well as a $50 million visitor center and cavernous theaters complete with smoke machines to be built on the general's historic home site, the effort runs the risk of Disney-fying our first president. Or reducing him to an action sequence for fourth-graders.
Our story begins a few years ago, when the Mount Vernon Ladies Association decided it was time for a big change. The association is very conservative in the nonpolitical sense. It was founded in the 1850s after the mother of association founder Ann Pamela Cunningham was appalled to see pillars rotted away and ship masts holding up the mansion's roof. The private organization has never accepted government funding, so it isn't given to political whim. And, since buying the estate in 1858, it has sought to restore it to its appearance at Washington's death in 1799. Even the 360-degree view from the mansion's cupola doesn't appear to have changed very much in 200 years--nearby roads, housing developments and even the Capitol dome, a mere 20 miles away, are blocked by trees.
But new times require a new approach. So after years of discussion, the Ladies Association has a strategy. The first steps are already in place. A new food court and lecture hall have been completed. And a teacher institute is taking shape, bringing elementary- and secondary-school teachers to Mount Vernon for weeklong seminars. The teachers stay in a house built by the association, but out of sight of the mansion. More than 300 teachers could cycle through each year. Another step is to provide school supplies and suggested curriculums to interested teachers.
Other steps include building a new, expansive museum and publishing new or previously out-of-print books about Washington. This summer Mount Vernon reissued Mary Higgins Clark's 1969 novel, "Aspire to the Heavens," under a new title: "Mount Vernon Love Story."
But the controversy has centered on the movie and the soon-to-be-built underground theaters and above-ground visitor center. They won't be visible from the mansion, but people fear they'll mar Washington's image.
"The phrase that got me in trouble is that he was the 'Indiana Jones of his day,' " Mount Vernon Resident Director James Rees told me while sitting in his office, a short walk from the mansion. "We are concerned with getting the balance right," he said.
That balance requires making Washington exciting enough for a generation of Americans who were taught little of him in school and believe he was a good but boring guy. All while not cheapening the man.
The problem is bigger than it first seems. A study of Virginia textbooks conducted by Mount Vernon showed that Washington now gets less than 10% of the space he enjoyed in the 1960s. Few students recognize that "first in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen" refers to Washington. And only 34% of seniors at 55 top colleges could correctly name Washington as the victorious general at the Battle of Yorktown--a victory that sealed American independence. More students--37%--guessed Civil War Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. When Mount Vernon sent some of its artifacts on tour a few years ago, the biggest draw was the general's false teeth.
There is, however, some encouraging news. About a million visitors a year pay to tour Mount Vernon. And the biggest complaint they have is that afterward they still know little about the man. And at least one study--done at Colonial Williamsburg, Va.--shows that people's enjoyment of a site increases with knowledge of its historical significance. That's the balance Mount Vernon officials are hoping to achieve.
A decade ago Disney considered building a colonial theme park in Northern Virginia. Local residents blocked it. So Mount Vernon officials have to consider: Are Americans ready to accept George Washington, action hero?
Mr. Miniter is assistant editor of OpinionJournal.com. His column appears Mondays.
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