Education
Opinion | Justice Neil Gorsuch on the ‘Miracle’ of Agreement on the Court
French: Can I stop you right there?
Gorsuch: No, let me finish three. Let me finish three. We can talk about two. Two is very important. But so’s three. He said: You write 10 times better than I do. And Jefferson said, oh, all right, I’ll do it. All right, now you can tap in.
French: OK. Well, was that humility or strategy or a combination to say that Jefferson writes?
Gorsuch: Well, I think No. 1 is humility, for sure, and probably true. No. 2 was strategic, for sure, right? I mean, you had had the Boston Tea Party, and all the goings-on in Lexington and Concord. What is it to a Virginian, right? You’ve got to drag everybody along, and you have to remember — everybody thinks we live in divided times, fine, we can talk about that, but back then, only about 40 percent of the colonists were backing the Patriot cause, even in June and July of 1776. Another percent were devoted Loyalists. And then the balance of the country was somewhere in between. Sound familiar? Yeah.
French: Yeah, absolutely. So, Virginia nationalizes this, in other words. It takes it away from being a Massachusetts rebellion, those ornery Puritans, and it turns into an American Revolution.
Now, the other thing that struck me is that Jefferson kind of squirrels away and does the writing on his own. And so, these really seminal words, this American mission statement, we’re “endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.” This really does seem to be Jefferson’s heart expressed on paper, not writing by committee.
Gorsuch: Well, there’s some of that too, right? This is later on, and he called the “mutilations” what people did to it, all right? You know, we think of the Declaration as this wonderful — “mutilations.” Anyway, but yes, he locked himself in rooms he had rented from a bricklayer on the outskirts of Philadelphia, and he did it in two weeks, and he said he didn’t consult any book or pamphlet. He tried merely to come up with an expression of the American mind. And I don’t think he was thinking about just his mind. I think he was thinking about how people were thinking at the time. And in that, he came up with three, I think, perfect ideas: that we’re all created equal, every one of us, and that each of us has inalienable rights given to us by God, not privileges from government, and that we have a right to rule ourselves.
In our national memory, George Washington is a mythic figure, cast in metal, carved in stone. His leadership, first as general, then as president, is so intertwined with the roots of this country that it is sometimes hard to separate the man from the idea of America. How does one imagine the living presence of such an icon, much less embody him?
There is a small fraternity of men bold enough to try. At historical parks and commemorations from Virginia to Seattle, these interpreters (their preferred term) transform themselves into Washington. Each has his own approach, but what all their representations seek to capture is a legacy that has endured from his time to ours. If America, at least in part, is an idea, then our national project becomes, like theirs, an act of interpretation, an imperfect attempt to translate some idealized vision into the messy reality of our own time.
— Ezekiel Kweku
“By some strange quirk
of genetics, I have
Washington’s exact
dimensions. Where my
sleeves fall on my wrist,
the size of my chest, the
size of my thighs, where
the breeches fall to my
knees, are all identical.”
John Koopman, 67, often performs
while riding his horse, Bear. He
has portrayed Washington for 20 years.
James Fryer, 70, wears a replica of a general’s uniform that Washington designed himself. He recently completed training to portray Washington for the nonprofit Historic Philadelphia.
“Some people portray George as a marble statue. I don’t do a marble George. I am interested in talking to everyone, even those who yell at me because George was a slave owner. I want to respect them, try to educate them, or maybe even inspire them.”
Vern Frykholm, 77, was moved to bring his interpretation of Washington to Washington State, where he lives, after seeing a 2011 performance in Pennsylvania.
Dean Malissa, 73, signs his personal
correspondence, including emails,
as Washington did: “Your Most Humble
and Obedient Servant.” He became
the Official George Washington
at Mount Vernon in 2004, and held
that role for nearly 20 years.
“I describe him sometimes as just a dude. I look at him and think, I could see myself in the same world, making similar bad decisions or similar good decisions.”
Daniel Cross, 39, portrayed a young Washington at Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg until last year. He now works with organizations around the country.
Curt Radabaugh, 62, has 13,000 history books in his personal library, including several hundred about Washington. He is a veteran of the U.S. Marines and a retired police officer.
“He’s a mentor, a father
figure, and not only in the
sense that he’s a patriarch
of the country. Because
I grew up without a
father, he kind of became
my surrogate father.”
Brian Hilton, 58, says he researches
Washington’s era every morning before
his children get up and at night after
they go to bed. He is a high school history
teacher near Richmond, Va.
Daniel Shippey, 57, partners on interpretations with his wife, Kelly, who portrays Martha Washington. Kelly researched 18th-century hair techniques to create her husband’s costume hairstyle. They live in Virginia.
“You’re playing the myth of George Washington as well as the historical figure. I make his voice a little firmer and deeper than it probably was in real life. I play him a little funnier than he probably was. In reality, if you came to see him, he probably wouldn’t talk to you as much as I do.”
Doug Thomas, 53, is Washington’s second cousin nine times removed.
John Godzieba, 67, has reenacted
the crossing of the Delaware as
Washington every Christmas for the
past 16 years at Pennsylvania’s
Washington Crossing Historic Park.
“In many ways I don’t look like him. My eye color is wrong. My nose is wrong. My hair color is wrong. I wouldn’t have cast myself in this role.”
Ron Carnegie, 64, has portrayed Washington at Colonial Williamsburg for 20 years.
Ryan Williams, 37, is a veteran who specializes in playing a young Washington during the French and Indian War. He lives in Virginia.
“Some people portray
Washington almost
like a superhero.
I like to bring out that
he has faults. He’s a
person like you or me.”
Michael Grillo, 64, is a historical
tailor who hand-sews his own clothes
for reenactments. He also makes
period props, including two American
battle flags and pewter mugs
engraved with Washington’s crest.
Martin Schoeller is a photographer and director known for his close-up portraits of everyone from world leaders and celebrities to female bodybuilders. For this project, he used a large format camera to photograph 13 historical interpreters of George Washington — many of whom arrived in full uniform — over three days in Virginia and New York City.
Additional reporting by Tenzin D. Tsagong. Interviews have been edited and condensed for length and clarity. Top quotes from Brian Hilton, Daniel Shippey and Daniel Cross.
Produced by Sara Barrett, Danny DeBelius and Sam Whitney. Additional production by Olivia James.
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