Richard Norton Smith "Patriarch: George Washington and the New American Nation."

Presents an intimate account of Washington during his presidency, recounting his struggle to contain the conflicts in his cabinet (especially the celebrated feud between Jefferson and Hamilton) and to keep the new nation out of Europe's influence.

The triumph of George Washington's presidency (1789-1796), according to biographer Smith (Thomas E. Dewey and His Times), was Washington's success in holding the new nation together, despite warring political factions, because he held an objective view in foreign affairs and refused to let himself be corrupted by power.

Relying heavily on the Donald Jackson-Dorothy Twohig edition of Washington's diaries, as well as on other primary sources, Smith describes the political intrigues of Washington's Cabinet--which included Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson; the foreign policy crisis that arose in 1793 during the war between France and England; and the domestic upheaval precipitated by the 1794 Whisky Rebellion.

This is a lively, well-written study of Washington's presidency and subsequent retirement to Mount Vernon; the first U.S. president emerges as a dedicated and politically astute manager who had a tart sense of humor--and who could swear a blue streak, on occasion. 

Hardcover with DJ. First printing. 1993.

New book. Very minor shelf wear.