"No picture accurately resembled him in the minute traits of his person . . . there was an expression of his face that no painter had succeeded in taking."-London's New Monthly Magazine in 1790 George Washington's face has been painted, printed, and engraved more than a billion times since his birth in 1732. And yet even in his lifetime, no picture seemed to capture the likeness of the man who is now the most iconic of all our presidents. Worse...

In 1789, when George Washington took office as the nation's first president, the United States was an experiment that could easily fail. Only a few years earlier, the fledgling democracy had broken away from British rule. The thirteen states were vying for power and had only reluctantly accepted a strong central government. Whoever led that central government would face many challenges. Most Americans believed Washington was the right person for the...