A Friend of America’s Great Beginning

To begin our Celebration of America’s Semiquincentennial, I want to start with the Figure who, more than any other, came to embody the Birth of the Republic Itself: George Washington.

Though I write from Norway, I do so as a sincere Friend of America — and as someone who regards the Founding of the United States as one of the most astonishing and important Events in modern History. Out of Colonies spread across a vast Wilderness came a Nation built on Christianity, Principle, Sacrifice, and a kind of Moral Courage that still commands Admiration. It is a Story worth celebrating not only by Americans, but by all who cherish Liberty, Self-Government, and the difficult Work of building a Free Society.

George Washington and the Making of a Nation

This first Installment in the Series of Celebrations is the 1984 Mini-Series George Washington, a sweeping Historical Drama that seeks to do something ambitious:
— Not merely to recount the Life of Washington, but to show the forging of the Man who would become the central Figure of the American Founding — First as the most Consequential General in all of American History, next as the First President of the new Nation.

A Fair Warning! This Mini-series is true to George Washington’s Life. And he was a Man of Action, so — once you click PLAY — you are drawn by a Whirlwind into Hours of Action, Romance, Suspense, Laughter and Sorrow as the New Nation of America is formed under George’s quick footsteps — both forward steps and sidesteps — but never really retreating steps.

Across its long and dramatic Runtime, the Series follows Washington from his Youth in colonial Virginia to the Battlefields of the Revolution, through the crushing Burdens of Command, and onward toward the Statesman’s Role that helped secure the Future of the New Nation. It is a Story of Land, War, Honor, Discipline, and Endurance — and of a People struggling to become something greater than the sum of their Parts.

Not a Statue, But a Man

What gives this Mini-Series you’re about to watch below its Force is that it does not present Washington as a distant Monument. Instead, it shows him as a Man shaped by Hardship and Responsibility. He is marked by Inheritance and Ambition, but also by Restraint, Duty, and the stern Demands of a Frontier World. As History gathers around him, he becomes something larger than himself:
— A Commander burdened with keeping an Army alive through Battles and the Horrors of the Winter Camp at Valley Forge 1777-1778, where he saw his Army of 12,000 reduced by 2,500 due to disease, exposure, and malnutrition — a Leader tested by Humiliation and Doubt, and a Patriot determined not to let the Cause fail.

The Series captures a Central Truth about Washington:
— Greatness was not simply given to him. It was forged through Sacrifice, Self-Command, and an almost unearthly Patience under Pressure.

Duty, Love, and Sacrifice

There is also a deeply human Heart at the center of the Story. Washington’s Life is portrayed as a constant negotiation between public Duty and private Longing, between the demands of History and the claims of the Heart. That Balance gives the Mini-Series an emotional Weight that makes it more than a War Drama.

He is shown as a Man who helped bring a Republic into being while paying dearly for the privilege. That Tension — between the Grandeur of the Cause and the Cost to the Individual — is one of the reasons this Story remains so moving. And it holds true to Historical Facts, which is the aspect that endears me the most to it. It hasn’t been mangled beyond recognition by eager Screenwriters in Hollywood who thinks the Amazing History of America’s Founding isn’t grand enough.

Why This Is the Proper First Chapter

As my American Friends this very day celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the Nation, there is something fitting about beginning here.

• Before there was a Confident Nation, there was a Fragile Experiment.
• Before there was a Presidency, there was Washington.
• Before there was a Finished Republic, there was Uncertainty, Danger, and the Long Struggle to make Freedom REAL.

That is why George Washington is an apt opening Chapter for this Founding Series. It is more than a Biography. It is an Overture to the American Story Itself — a Story of Conviction, Endurance, and the remarkable Birth of a Nation.

From a Friend of America, this first Installment stands as a Tribute to the Astonishing and Important Republic that emerged from those Hard Beginnings.

🇺🇸 HAPPY 250TH BIRTHDAY — AMERICA! 🇺🇸
🇺🇸 AND MANY HAPPY RETURNS! 🇺🇸

— Robert D.
Editor