Dean Malissa
George Washington Interpreter
George Washington Actor
George Washington Impersonator
There is no single person in America’s history that has had greater impact on the United States of America than George Washington.  Certainly there have been other great men and women in U.S. history, but none has been as central to the formation of the American character nor has played a central part in the actions that gave form to these United States of America as he did. George Washington’s name was and is known throughout the world.

Sadly, however, in the 21st century he has become predominantly two major things to most of us.   The first, a marble statue of an inaccessible man who is almost mythological in nature. The second, what marketing executives would call America’s most-recognizable “brand.” For most of us, George Washington resides in that special place in our brains that we reserve for our national icons… we know of them… but how much do we really know about them?

That’s where Dean Malissa comes in. He brings George Washington to life.  He makes him accessible.  He gives you the opportunity to talk to him… to learn from him… to be inspired by him.  In Malissa’s portrayals, Washington comes down from the pedestal… leaps off the page of the history book… out of the painting… and off of the dollar bill.

Though there are some truly wonderful history teachers and professors out there, learning about events from the past is often dry, dusty and doesn’t seem relevant. If they’re really, really good at what they do… first-person historical interpreters and character actors make history come alive and provide access to… even reanimation of… as one high-school student put it… “dead guys.”

Dean Malissa meets thousands of people during his portrayals of George Washington. At the risk of sounding cynical, he finds that what most of them know about this incredible, courageous, resourceful, and very human American patriot could fill a thimble… and 50% of that is myth.  Malissa doesn’t see that as cynicism… but a challenge. And that is his mission – to educate you about the life and times of George Washington. Malissa always does so, to the best of his ability, in a 100% accurate manner. He guarantees that you will have “ah-hah!” moments. He may even burst a bubble or two. However, he will “BE” George Washington for you in an entertaining and memorable manner… and will provide you with access to the greatest of Americans.

Thank you very much for visiting this website.

The music you are hearing is:
White Cockade courtesy of David & Ginger Hildebrand, The Colonial Music Institute

Spirit of America courtesy of The Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps 1. MYTH - Chopping down the cherry tree:

It never happened… yet almost all Americans believe this to be true. As the popular story goes, George Washington, as a young boy, amuses himself by “hacking his mother’s pea-sticks.” And he “unluckily tried the edge of his hatchet on the body of a beautiful young English cherry-tree…”  The next morning young George’s father discovered the fate of his favorite tree and asked everyone how it happened. No one knew. Finally father asked son. “‘George,’ said his father, ‘do you know who killed that beautiful little cherry-tree yonder in the garden?’ This was a tough question; and George staggered under it for a moment; but quickly recovered himself: and looking at his father, with the sweet face of youth brightened with the inexpressible charm of all-conquering truth, he bravely cried out, ‘I can’t tell a lie, Pa; you know I can’t tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.’”   Unfortunately for the truth, a sometimes Anglican clergyman, Parson Mason Locke Weems, COULD tell a lie – many of them – some of which have become popular myth about George Washington. After Washington’s death, Weems became an itinerant book seller. He recognized that “…millions are gaping to read something about him [Washington].”  Weems’ Life of Washington, which played a key role in creating the popular image we have of Washington to this day, became one of the first bestsellers in American history. His book was fabulously successful and reprinted in almost 30 editions. Weems didn’t know much about Washington’s childhood. To fill in this period, he took attributes of Washington’s adult personality and created events in Washington’s childhood to show where the adult attributes originated. One scholar wrote about Weems “The enterprising parson thus tapped a mother lode of popular patriotic sentiment.”
2. MYTH - Threw a coin across the Potomac River:

It never happened. Here again, thanks primarily to Parson Weems. Admittedly, however, over time it changed a bit in the telling. In describing his great strength, Weems wrote that Washington was often seen to “throw a stone across the Rappahannock [River]… It would be no easy matter to find a man now-a-days, who could do it.”

3. MYTH – Had wooden teeth:

Contrary to American legend, George Washington never owned a set of wooden teeth - while he did own many sets of dentures, none were made of wood. Through his writings we have a well documented case history of his dental problems. According to the Dr. Samuel Harris National Museum of Dentistry (an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution): “George Washington had many illnesses during his life.  He had smallpox, malaria and the flu among other things.  Back in the 1700's, there were no antibiotics such as we have today.  Treatments for illnesses in those days included blood-letting and remedies such as mercurous chloride, which is known to destroy the teeth. Washington lost his first tooth when he was 22 years old.  Despite the fact that he used tooth powder daily, over the next 35 years he would lose the rest of his teeth.  Toothaches were a common problem for Washington. There are entries in his diary about his teeth.  One example is "Monday, 18 January (1790) Still indisposed with an aching tooth, and swelled and inflamed gum". During his life, Washington had nine different dentists.  Even his physician extracted teeth for him.  His dentists made him many sets of false teeth.  Many of his dentures were uncomfortable.  One dentist was able to make teeth for Washington that were comfortable.  He became his favorite dentist. His name was John Greenwood.  Greenwood would make four sets of teeth for Washington and none of them would be made from wood.  They were carved from hippopotamus ivory and elephant ivory.  Sometimes the teeth were set in gold.  His dentures had gold springs to hold the upper and lower teeth together, Washington was not able to travel to New York where Greenwood had his office because of his responsibilities as a general and then as President.  Instead, he had to send his teeth through the mail to be repaired or adjusted.  Sometimes he fixed his own dentures.  He wrote letters to Greenwood describing his problem and asking for the right tools to fix them.  He requested files to adjust his teeth, scrapers to clean them, and pincers to fasten the wires.  Once he even asked for material to make an impression of his mouth for new dentures. By the time Washington was inaugurated as the first President in 1789, he had only one natural tooth left in his mouth.  He wore dentures made by Greenwood during his presidency.  He was elected to a second term as President, but delivered a very short two paragraph inaugural address, probably because his mouth was bothering him.  Many pictures were painted of George Washington during his lifetime.  These portraits show how his face changes as he ages and loses his teeth.  In 1795, Rembrandt Peale painted a portrait of Washington that shows his mouth is puffy and swollen.  Gilbert Stuart painted a famous portrait of Washington, but he had to pack cotton in his mouth to make it look better. George Washington died in 1799, and was buried with a set of dentures made by John Greenwood.”  They were NEVER wooden teeth!

4. MYTH – He was born in England:


No. He was born in America. Washington was a third generation Virginian. The first ancestor to come from England in 1657 was his Great Grandfather, John Washington.
5. MYTH – He was uneducated:

No. Washington was unschooled, but not uneducated. Like his two older half-brothers were, Washington fully expected to be sent to England for a formal English education.  When Washington was 11 years old his father died and so did the hopes of English schooling. Washington never attended any school but was educated by local parsons and tutors hired by his parents. Through his father's library Washington learned the fundamentals of mathematics, surveying and other subjects. He earned a certificate "from the President and Masters of William and Mary College” as a surveyor. Much of what he learned about life in general came from living on and managing a complex farm and estate. He learned the principles of warfare from listening to soldiers (visitors at Mount Vernon), reading military books and in practical service – first in the Virginia Regiment during the French & Indian War and later in America’s War of Independence. From his readings… from other Virginia Burgesses, Congressional delegates and intellectuals he learned about natural law and the rights of man. Mostly… he learned from life, from his mistakes and his victories.  Interestingly, in 1776 Washington was given an honorary degree from Harvard after the successful Boston siege. He also received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1783. He strongly believed in education and was the most generous funding founder of Washington College. In 1789, when he became President of the United States he accepted an honorary degree from Washington College.
6. MYTH – He always rode a white horse:
Not always… actually, rarely. Most portraits of George Washington show him majestically mounted on a brilliant white charger. This is the imagination of the painters. In reality, however, Washington's favorite mount was a chestnut brown hunter named Nelson which was a gift from Thomas Nelson, Jr., the Governor of Virginia. Washington rode Nelson for ten years before the War of Independence and Nelson was his primary mount during the war. Some of General Washington's other mounts died from exhaustion carrying him through battles. But Nelson survived the rigors of near-starvation at Valley Forge and relentless marches from Boston to the Carolinas. Blueskin, a grayish-blue steed, also served Washington during the war; however, he was not the favorite on account of his not standing musket fire and cannon shot as well as Nelson. In their old age, Washington retired both horses to a stable, where they fed away at their ease for their past services. The popular image of Washington on a white horse probably came from the fact that in some cases during the war… and presidency… when he participated in parades, the organizers frequently asked him to ride on white horses.
7. MYTH – He stood up in the boat while crossing the Delaware River:

No… at least not the way we think.  In reality… ALL aboard the Durham boats stood up. As author George Billias wrote:  “The image most Americans carry of Washington crossing the Delaware is false. It is based upon the familiar painting by Emanuel Leutze, a German-born artist who lived in America but spent more than two decades in the land of his birth. Using the Rhine to portray the Delaware, Leutze took more artistic liberties than usual and his picture is filled with inaccuracies. Instead of the Durham boats which were actually used, Leutze painted craft that looked like long-boats. The dozen men crowded into the small boat in the foreground of his picture most certainly would have swamped a craft of that size. If by some miracle the boat had remained afloat, its heavy draft would have prevented the men aboard from approaching within twenty feet of the shore. Nor does it seem probable that a man with Washington’s innate good sense would have invited disaster by standing with one foot on the gunwale while crossing an ice-filled river on a dark night.”  The Durham boat was used to transport heavy freight (iron ore, barrels of whiskey, grain etc.) on the river. They were ideally suited for military operations because of their large size and shallow draft. They ranged from 35 to over 60 feet long with a beam of eight feet.  The boats were pointed at both ends and looked like giant canoes. The important feature to note, for the sake of clarifying Washington’s and his soldier’s positions, is that the boats had high sides (almost 4 feet high) and no passenger seats.  Remember, they were designed to carry loads… not people. EVERYONE stood up.  If you chose to sit down on the Durham boats you sat on the “floor” of the boat which invariably had ice or standing water collected there.

8. MYTH – He wore a wig:

No. While many men in “proper society” did wear wigs, Washington never had time for such contrivances. He saw himself as a farmer and a soldier – wigs did NOT fit into his life.  As was the fashion, he did powder his hair for formal occasions and would sometimes wear his queue (ponytail) in a fine black silk bag tied with a ribbon.
9. MYTH – He was the wealthiest man in America:


No. Like most of us, Washington had financial ups and downs. He was very “land-rich” and acquired acre after acre whenever and wherever he could afford it*, but he was often “cash-poor.” He had to borrow money to go to his own inauguration. He tried (and failed) to borrow money during his Presidency to buy a small farm outside of Philadelphia that he could get away to when living in the City became too oppressive or tension-producing. [*Washington owned over 70,000 acres spread around the current states of Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York.

10. MYTH – He lived in The White House:

No. Washington was the ONLY President of the United States who did NOT live in the President’s House (as it was known as until the Civil War when it became known as the Executive Mansion) It was not known as The White House until President Teddy Roosevelt officially name it by Executive Order. Washington was responsible for the selection of its location overlooking the Potomac River and he collaborated with its architect, an Irish immigrant named James Hoban.

1. FACT

  When George Washington was commissioned as a Lieutenant General (3-star) and Commander In Chief of the Continental Army… he was the ONLY soldier in it.  Not one other soldier nor rifleman nor officer had enlisted or been appointed yet. It is, perhaps, the strangest military commission in history. 2. FACT

George Washington who commanded the Continental Army as a three-star general was promoted posthumously to the position of six-star "General of the Armies of Congress" by an order of President Jimmy Carter. It was also declared that George Washington would always remain senior and could never be outranked by any other officer of the U.S. military. 3. FACT

George Washington’s favorite food… if you had to pick just one… was ice cream. Martha loved it too. They purchased two pewter ice cream pots in Philadelphia in 1784 and used them to make ice cream at Mount Vernon. 4. FACT

George Washington was one of the tallest Presidents in U.S. history. There is conflicting information about his exact height, with respected scholars differing widely, but he was exceptionally tall for his day… somewhere between 6’2” and 6’4 ½”.  Washington wrote his London tailor in 1763, ordering clothes, that he was "six feet tall", and he was measured at death in 1799 by aide Tobias Lear (so his coffin would be large enough) as "six feet three and a half inches."   You can figure that by the time of Washington’s death he had already lost some height as happens in old-age… thus lending credence to a height at his zenith of 6’4 ½”.  A close friend, George Mercer, gave a detailed description of Washington in a 1760 letter (when Washington was 28 years old) as: "… being straight as an Indian, measuring six feet two inches in his stockings and weighing 175 pounds when he took his seat in the House of Burgesses in 1759. His frame is padded with well-developed muscles, indicating great strength. His bones and joints are large, as are his hands and feet. He is wide shouldered but has not a deep or wide chest; is neat waisted, but is broad across the hips and has rather long legs and arms. His head is well-shaped, though not large, but is gracefully poised on a superb neck. ... blue gray penetrating eyes... clear though rather colorless pale skin which burns with the sun... a commanding countenance... dark brown hair which he wears in a cue. His mouth is large and generally firmly closed, but which from time to time discloses some defective teeth. His features are regular and placid with all the muscles of his face under perfect control, though flexible and expressive of deep feeling when moved by emotions. ... His demeanor at all times is composed and dignified. His movements and gestures are graceful, his walk majestic, and he is a splendid horseman." 5. FACT

George Washington was the only “Founding Father” to free his slaves. He called slavery: “The only unavoidable subject of regret." Gordon S. Wood, Professor of History at Brown University wrote: “Among all the well known founders who were major slaveholders at the time of the Revolution - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Patrick Henry - Washington was the only one who actually ended up freeing his slaves. But Washington was no fiery abolitionist, and he never spoke out publicly against the institution of slavery. Instead, he arrived at his conclusion that slavery was immoral and inconsistent with the ideals of the American Revolution gradually, privately, and with difficulty… Prior to the Revolution Washington, like most eighteenth-century Americans, and especially Virginians, took slavery very much for granted… Although we today can scarcely imagine one person owning another, that was certainly not the case in early eighteenth-century America. After all, slavery had existed for thousands of years without any substantial criticism, and this was still true in early eighteenth-century America as well. On the eve of the Revolution all the colonies were implicated in African slavery in one way or another. Of the total American population of one and a half million in 1760, at least one-fifth - over 300,000 men, women, and children was enslaved. Washington's colonial Virginia had the most slaves - over 140,000 or 40 percent of its population. Although most of the slaves were held by southerners, slavery was not inconsequential in the North. Fourteen percent of the population of New York, for example, was enslaved. It was a national institution that seemed to be a natural part of the circumstances into which people were born. Aside from some conscience-stricken Quakers, few people in the early eighteenth century thought that slavery was wrong or required any explanation or apology… The American Revolution changed all this… All of the Revolutionary leaders became aware of the excruciating contradiction between their revolution on behalf of liberty and American slavery. Washington was no exception… It was no simple matter for Washington to come to question what hitherto he had unquestioningly accepted, or to challenge what was, after all, the very basis of his and Virginia's way of life. He was a southern planter deeply immersed in his society and its mores; before the Revolution his views on slavery were indistinguishable from those of other Virginia planters. As he sought to increase the wealth and productivity of Mount Vernon, he bought more and more slaves, selling some only on rare occasions. By 1774 the slaves on his plantation numbered over one hundred. Although he was a good master, constantly concerned with the health and welfare of his slaves, he did not agonize over his holding of human beings in bondage… When Washington became Commander in Chief of the Continental Army, he was forced by military circumstances to change his original view that blacks not be recruited as soldiers. In 1778 he allowed Rhode Islanders to raise a battalion of black soldiers. In 1779 he cautiously approved a plan to grant slaves their freedom in return for military service; but as a leader who knew the prevalence of self-interest in human nature and understood only too well the deeply rooted fears and prejudices of his fellow southerners, he was not surprised when the plan failed. Although he never spoke out publicly against slavery, all the while he was Commander in Chief he was slowly and quietly rethinking the issue of slavery. When he returned to Mount Vernon at the end of the war in 1783, he had concluded that slavery needed to be abolished, not simply because it was an inefficient labor system, but more important, because it violated everything that the Revolution was about. Yet slavery had become even more important to the running of Mount Vernon, and by the mid-1780s the number of his slaves had doubled to more than two hundred. Reluctant as he was to speak out on issues, he said nothing publicly against slavery. But privately… he had come to hope against hope that some plan could be adopted by which slavery could be eliminated "by slow, sure & imperceptible degrees." He realized that any other kind of plan would be politically impossible.  No one understood human nature better or was more realistic about the world than Washington. He knew that even his fellow Virginians were probably unwilling to make the sacrifices required for abolishing slavery, not to mention the planters of the deep South. He knew too that the Union was so fragile that any national attempt to end the institution would break the United States apart. Like many of his colleagues, he hoped that Congress's promise to end the slave trade in 1808 would eventually cause slavery to wither away.”   In the meantime he was determined to do what he could personally to abolish the institution by declaring in his will, some say in violation of Virginia’s law at the time, that his personal valet and lifelong friend Willie Lee, would be freed immediately upon his death… and that all of his slaves would be freed immediately upon Martha’s death.  This section of his will was written in such a way that there would be no room for misinterpretation of his desires. His will also left strict instructions for the continued care and education of some of his former slaves, support and training for all of the children until they came of age and continuing support for the elderly.

Abraham Lincoln said GW was the greatest President. Abraham Lincoln said about George Washington "Washington is the mightiest name on earth -- long since mightiest in the cause of civil liberty; still mightiest in moral reformation… To add brightness to the sun, or glory to the name of Washington, is alike impossible. Let none attempt it. In solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its naked deathless splendor, leave it shining on."

George III, King of England, called Washington “…he is the greatest man in the world."

Lord Broughman (British Parliamentarian during reign of King Geo. III)
“…the Greatest man of our own age or any age…”

John Adams said “His example is now complete, and it will teach wisdom and virtue to magistrates, citizens, and men, not only in the present age, but in future generations, as long as our history shall be read.”

Richard Henry Lee “First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to none in humble and enduring scenes of private life. Pious, just, humane, temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified, and commanding; his example was as edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting.... Correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence and virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private character gave effulgence to his public virtues.”

Daniel Webster “To him who denies or doubts whether our fervid liberty can be combined with law, with order, with the security of property, with the pursuits and advancement of happiness; to him who denies that our forms of government are capable of producing exaltation of soul, and the passion of true glory; to him who denies that we have contributed any thing to the stock of great lessons and great examples; to all these I reply by pointing to Washington.”

Thomas Jefferson “He was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calmest unconcern. Perhaps the strongest feature in his character was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every consideration… was maturely weighed… His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was, indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good, and a great man… His person, you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one would wish, his deportment easy, erect and noble; the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on horseback…”

Thomas Jefferson “On the whole, his character was, in its mass, perfect, in nothing bad, in few points indifferent; and it may truly be said, that never did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great, and to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have merited from man an everlasting remembrance. For his was the singular destiny and merit, of leading the armies of his country successfully through an arduous war, for the establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils through the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into a quiet and orderly train; and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the whole of his career, civil and military, of which the history of the world furnishes no other example... These are my opinions of General Washington, which I would vouch at the judgment seat of God, having been formed on an acquaintance of thirty years... I felt on his death, with my countrymen, that "verily a great man hath fallen this day in Israel.”

Abigail Adams (shortly after meeting Washington) “...Dignity with ease...the Gentleman and the Soldier look so agreeably blended in him... modesty marks every line of his features.  Those words of Dreyden instantly occurred to me 'Mark his majestic fabric.  He is a Temple, sacred by birth and built by hands divine.”

Abigail Adams “Take his character all together, and we shall not look upon his like again.”

Calvin Coolidge “Wherever men love liberty, wherever they believe in patriotism, wherever they exalt high character, by universal consent they turn to the name of George Washington. No occasion could be conceived more worthy, more truly and comprehensively American, than that which is chosen to commemorate this divinely appointed captain.”

Winston Churchill “He was the Father of his Nation. Almost alone his staunchness in the War of Independence held the American colonies to their united purpose. His services after victory had been won were no less great. His firmness and example while first President restrained the violence of faction and postponed a national schism for sixty years. His character and influence steadied the dangerous leanings of Americans to take sides against Britain or France. He filled his office with dignity and inspired his administration with much of his own wisdom. To his terms as President are due the smooth organization of the Federal Government, the establishment of national credit, and the foundation of a foreign policy.”

Joseph J. Ellis (historian & biographer) “It seemed to me that Benjamin Franklin was wiser than Washington; Alexander Hamilton was more brilliant; John Adams was better read; Thomas Jefferson was more intellectually sophisticated; James Madison was more politically astute. Yet each and all of these prominent figures acknowledged that Washington was their unquestioned superior.”

James Thomas Flexner (historian & biographer) “I found a fallible human being made of flesh, and blood and spirit – not a statue of marble and wood. And inevitably – for that was the fact – I found a great and good man.  In all history, few men who possessed unassailable power have used that power so gently and self-effacingly for what their best instincts told them was the welfare of their neighbors and all mankind.”

Henry Wiencek (historian & biographer) “Then and now his unique eminence arises from his sterling personal qualities, from the inescapable fact that we Americans owe everything we have to him, and from the eerie sense that, in him, some fragment of divine Providence did indeed touch this ground.”