Did Washington Lie?     

   This is an image of younger George Washington, tall and athletic, a skilled soldier, avid horseman and graceful dancer.
Can you believe it? 

   We were taught that GW never told a lie. But now we have letters "in his own words" that he sympathized with the British monarchy and thought the American cause was doomed. 

   Can you believe that? No, you can't. 

   Those letters "to his friends" were carefully forged and first appeared in London in 1777. They also circulated in pamphlets during Washington's presidency. 

   A publisher claimed they had been found when Washington's servant, Billy Lee, was captured. 

   Fake news.

   GW apparently ignored the letters, until they appeared again near the end of his presidency. On his last day in office, March 3, 1797, the president wrote to his secretary of state for posterity.

   The origin of the letters was wrong. Neither Billy Lee nor any Washington documents had ever been captured. 

   Washington wanted to rebut the letters, if only to assert a simple truth:

"I have thought it a duty that I owed to myself, to my country 

and to truth ... that the letters herein described are a base forgery, 

and that I never saw or heard of them until they appeared in print." 

   From the U. of Virginia Washington Papers project: Fake letters were not unusual for their time. Many politicians and writers schemed against each other. Rumors and innuendo ran rampant.

   Unity and idealism gradually dissipated by the late 1790s; extreme partisanship had begun. GW was fed up and wanted to retire to Mount Vernon. 

   Politifact says fake news ... skullduggery itself is a huge part of American history.

   Who can we believe?

        Jimmy