George Washington (1797) by Gilbert StuartThe White House
As candidates, politicians, and at times merely as hacked-off regular types, American presidents have periodically accused opponents and detractors of bending facts – or even outright lying – and heard those allegations directed right back at them.
Yet probably more whoppers are recounted about US leaders than they’ve ever uttered themselves. Some of those embellishments have become part of the mythical lore surrounding certain presidential biographies.
Here is a list of some of the more popular inaccuracies associated with two favorite American presidents – with the more likely version of events.
Parson Weems' Fable (1939) by Grant WoodAmon Carter Museum of American Art
George Washington, the cherry tree
“Father, I cannot tell a lie” is the famous phrase six-year-old Washington supposedly said in admitting his guilt for chopping down the family cherry tree. The quote came to serve as Exhibit A for the superhuman honesty central to the president’s irreproachable character.
The cherry tree story, a popular anecdote about young George Washington, is actually a fabrication by his biographer, Mason Locke Weems, aiming to portray him as exceptionally honest. It became a cornerstone of his image.
Washington Crossing the Delaware Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851) by Emanuel LeutzeThe Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Silver Dollar and the Potomac River
Another enduring Washingtonian legend has a young George throwing a silver dollar across the Potomac River as evidence of his precocious strength. Possible, perhaps, if Washington’s arm was a cannon: the Potomac was over a mile wide.
Many observers discount the tale as more Washington glorification, while others note it could have happened on the Rappahannock River, over which George and his chums heaved rocks while waiting to cross on a ferry. Some estimates put the Rappahannock at around 300-feet wide.
George Washington’s DenturesGeorge Washington’s Mount Vernon
Wooden Teeth?
Though Washington’s writings make it clear his decaying teeth caused him terrible suffering from the age of 22 onwards, the attendant factoid that he wore wooden dentures has one foot in fiction.
Washington did wear dentures, but as surviving pairs prove, most were made of brass,
By Ralph CraneLIFE Photo Collection
Abraham Lincoln, a simple, country lawyer
While born in humble surroundings, Lincoln's path to the presidency wasn't simply a rustic lawyer's rise. He established a successful legal career before politics, actively working for prominent clients and building his reputation.
Logan County Courthouse (1840) by Cowardin, Peter G., 1790-1849 and Tinsley, Seth M.Original Source: http://collections.thehenryford.org/Collection.aspx?objectKey=221524
Lincoln’s own papers indicate he’d become a busy and thriving attorney before taking his first steps in a political career in 1854. In addition to representing railroad companies in legal cases, he also established an esteemed reputation as one of Illinois’ best – and most well
Photograph of Mary LincolnOriginal Source: Library of Congress, LC-USZ62-8341
Slave Owner?
Similar to certain critics of Thomas Jefferson, Lincoln “the Emancipator” has occasionally been denounced for having at one time owned slaves. There is no evidence whatsoever to indicate Lincoln or even his father was ever a slave-owner – it just wasn’t so.
It is true, however, that family members of Lincoln’s future wife Mary were slave-owners in Kentucky. But that detail appears to have pre-dated Lincoln meeting Mary – and at any rate hardly relates to his own actions.
[Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Gettysburg] (1863)Original Source: Library of Congress
The Gettysburg Address on an Envelope
Another oft-heard Lincoln tale is that he was so hard-pressed to write the Gettysburg Address that he scribbled it out on the back of an envelope. Too incredible to be true, it turns out.
By Bernard HoffmanLIFE Photo Collection
Scholars of the five-known manuscripts of the address don’t reject the possibility that Lincoln could have been so short on time that might have written what is arguably the most famous speech of his life – and possibly US hi
Learn more about the presidency and American Democracy.
You are all set!
Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.