The George Washington Monument in Lafayette Park is the only public memorial to the president that I know of in the city. On this Presidents Day, I was also thinking that I don’t know of any memorials to Abraham Lincoln. Does anyone know of one?
This statue has an interesting story, as it is a cast from the original housed in the Virginia Statehouse, sculpted by famous French sculptor Houdon.
The large bundle of rods that Washington is resting his proper left hand on is the Roman fasces, which a symbol of leadership. Alone the rods are weak and easily breakable, but bundled together they are strong and unbreakable. The Italian Fascist movement of the 1930s and 40s later corrupted the symbol for their own politics.
Behind Washington is what appears to be a cannon, but I am not sure.
Thankfully, the left-wing, anti-American, Black Lives Matter Democrats have not toppled this statue in their ongoing cultural revolution. George Washington is one of the greatest Americans who has ever lived, a man with no peer among either the whining activists or self-serving politicians of today. Long may this statue stand.
Yes, Washington was a great leader who understood the tenants of Democracy and elected to graciously step down when his term was up and ceded power to his successor, unlike a former ‘president’ of recent vintage who possesses no integrity.