Read Online Sex and the Founding Fathers: The American Quest for a Relatable Past (Sexuality Studies) by Thomas A. Foster - Free Book Online Page A

bed throughout their marriage (no separate bedrooms here),
and he desired her companionship as often as possible when he was away
from home during the war and the presidency.""' A recent biography by
journalist Fleming asserts-without a source of evidence for the claim-that
Martha was "the only person with whom Washington could relax and speak
candidly." Fleming further emphasizes a chemistry between them by focusing on how Martha must have felt when marrying George on the heels of her
first husband, whom he describes as a "rather pathetic" man. "Martha," he
imagines, "must have felt a few tremors," as Washington "must have been a
breathtaking sight" on his wedding day. He poignantly remarks that upon
her death, Martha was "almost visibly eager to join the man she had loved so
long and so deeply in an eternity of happiness.""' Keep in mind that all of
these deeply personal insights about the affective bond between Martha and
George come from scant few letters to analyze: Martha famously destroyed
virtually all of their correspondence after his death.
    As we have seen, one of the reasons that Americans today may not know
that Washington never fathered children is that there is a long history of
portraying Washington as a model father figure-of the nation to be sure,
but also of his own household. And any of the negative associations with
childlessness-homosexuality, impotence, lack of desirability-have been
roundly countered by his memorializers for well over a century.
    The desire to create a more approachable Washington has led to a sustained and perhaps increased portrayal of the man as an appealing father
and family man. This trend continues today, as demonstrated by biographer
Bruce Chadwick and others who emphasize Washington's paternal side by
using the terms "stepfather" and "father" interchangeably-and "daughter" and "stepdaughter," in the same manner. In descriptions of certain
moments, such as when Martha's daughter Patsy died, the term "father" is
used to underscore the bond between them. Thus, Chadwick follows "Patsy
died in her father's arms" with "The stoic Washington was too overcome to
offer much detail on his daughter's sudden demise." 126 Chadwick is right to
characterize the relationship in this manner, but the unintended effect may be to contribute to a long history of compensating for what some might find
controversial about Washington's family life.

    Figure 1.7. Washington family statues. Greeting visitors to the Mount Vernon Visitor
Center is a group of statues that depict George and Martha striding youthfully alongside
two young children. Although the youngsters appear to be members of the nuclear
family, the legend identifies them as grandchildren. (Statue of Washington and Family.
Mount Vernon Visitor Center. Courtesy of the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association.)
    Reacting in part to the relatively recent historical inquiry into the
lives of ordinary Americans, Washington's image makers have sought to
depict him as still relevant for a populace who sees elite, slave-holding
men as less and less the central focus of early American history. Thus, the
new visitor center at Mount Vernon, in an explicit attempt to "humanize" Washington and connect with contemporary museumgoers, returns
to the image of Washington the family man with a set of four statues
in the welcome area. The statues that greet visitors are of George and
Martha striding youthfully, accompanied by their grandchildren (Figure
1.7). The effect is to recreate an image of the nuclear family. To many
visitors, the children could appear to be their own.117 But on the floor,
engraved in the stone tile at the foot of each statue, not set off by any color or distinguishing features, is a name and age, and each of the children has "grandson" and "granddaughter" presented for those who would
closely inspect.

    At the same time, by the end of the twentieth century, many writers
have taken it upon themselves to