We wish you a happy Fourth of July!
We hope you'll enjoy fireworks and food–and also that you'll spend some time reflecting on the Founders, who "with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, pledged "our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor," when they signed the Declaration of Independence in Congress on July 4, 1776.
We're in a presidential campaign year, and maybe the Fourth of July is a good time to remember the man who first held that office. I've just seen the trailer for Newt and Callista Gingrich's apparently very polished movie about George Washington. It looks like it might be the perfect film for Monday. From the description:
George Washington’s sense of virtue, his lifelong activity as a citizen, his reverence for the rule of law, and his commitment to establishing the American Republic make him the essential figure for every American to know and study. This is especially true at a time when there has been a dramatic decline in the number of Americans who know and understand American history.
The trailer features Victor Davis Hanson talking about Washington's spending seven long years in the saddle (something you can't quite imagine Jefferson and Adams doing). Walter Isaacson talks about Washington's "rectitude and honor." Others who were interviewed for the film were H.W. Brands, Douglas Brinkley, Jane Hampton Cook, Joseph Ellis, William Forstchen, Gay Hart Gaines, Allen Guelzo, Edward Larson, and Edward Lengel.