I think weve have you here every year since then. We are thrilled to have you. His newest book it was released late may in addition to authoring over 30 books. A columnist and media commentator. And a researcher in the developing world. To the childhood and during the wars centennial. He is working on a novel set during the cold war and is a contributor to the Hoover Institute on the publication or military history in the impact on world affairs. It is terrific, thank you for coming. Many of you would not want to be in this airconditioning you want to be out in the 95 degrees heat. I was also a very bad musician. I was talking about darkness in the new book. In the sense the talk today might have been titled chancellor bill although it has been and is as the latest operational triumph nonetheless that victory was a very expensive one. And i will just give you a couple of fine points right now and then we will do more of the background and the battle. We are at gettysburg after all. The
Thank you so much. I wish my parents could have heard that. It would have made my father very proud and my mother actually would have believed you. There you go. [laughter] for me as you suggested, this lecture concludes an amazing year. As it began just a year ago when the library, fred w. Smith library for George Washington and i was able to take a seat. During that year, i learned what a treasure all of you have in mount vernon. Led by the staff, they are extraordinarily dedicated and extraordinarily loyal. For 150 years, the Mount Vernon Ladies Association has kept this place special. And with a new library, the orientation and education center, no crop of those women have done a better job. Among those were remarkable women. Well, let me begin tonight with a question. Retirement. Today we think of retirement as golf, bridge, a condo in florida with no grass to mow, but what would it mean to George Washington . He used the word often in 1783 as the revolutionary war was winding dow
I wish my parents could have heard that. It would have made my father very proud and my mother actually would have believed you. So there you go. For me as you suggested, this lecture concludes an amazing year that began just a year ago when the library the fred w. Smith library for the study of George Washington opened and i was able to take a seat as one of the inaugural fellows. During that year, i learned what a treasure always of you have in mount vernon led by kurt brands and with library led by Doug Bradburn the staff here is simply extraordinary. They are extraordinaryily loyal. For 150 years, the mount vernon ladys association has kept this place special. With the new library the orientation and education center, no crop of those women have done a better job than the current one, at least since martha did it alone. Among those remarkable women, of course let me thank gay gains and ann petri. Well let me begin tonight with a question. Retirement. Today we think of retirement as
For that introduction, thank you so much. I wish my parents could have heard that. It would have made my father very proud and my mother actually would have believed you. So there you go. Well, for me as you suggested, this lecture concludes an amazing year that began just a year ago when the library, the fred w. Smith library for the study of George Washington opened and i was able to take a seat as one of the inaugural library fellows. During that year, i learned what a treasure all of you have in mt. Vernon. Led by kurt v. Brands and with the library led by doug bradburn, the staff here is simply extraordinary. Theyre extraordinarily dedicated, theyre extraordinarily loyal and theyre extraordinarily collegial. For 150 years the mt. Vernon Ladies Association has kept this place special. And with the new library, the orientation and education center, no crop of those women have done a better job than the current one, at least since martha did it alone. Among those remarkable women, of
Move. There. We think of retirement as golf, bridge, a condo in florida with no grass to mow. But what would it mean to George Washington . He used the word often in 1783 as the revolutionary war was winding down and he prepared to resign his commission as commander in chief of American Forces in december. Mt. Vernon would be the and im quoting here, the seat of my retirement from the bustle of the busy world, washington wrote in one typical letter. Yet what did he envision . What did he envision that retirement to be . He was only 51 years old. And the most celebrated man in america, if not the world. The master of one of virginias largest plantations and both deeply committed to and profoundly concerned about the future of his newly independent country. If by to retire one means to rest, he knew that would not be the case. First, he had plenty to do on the plantation. An almost entire suspension of everything which related to my own estate for near nine years has accumulated an abund