Overview

"From the #1 New York Times bestselling author and Fox News Channel's Chief Political Correspondent, a blockbuster new biography of George Washington, centering on his return from retirement to lead the Constitutional Convention and secure the future of the United States. George Washington rescued the nation and the Constitution three times: first by winning the Revolutionary War, second by presiding over the Constitutional Convention and ushering the Constitution through a fractious ratification process, and third by leading the nation as president in its first years. There is no doubt that the struggling new nation needed to be rescued. After the victorious war, when a spirit of unity and patriotism might have been expected, instead the nation was broken. The states were no more than a loosely knit and contentious confederation, with no strong central union. They were in constant conflict. A frustrated Washington wrote to James Madison, ""We are either a united people, or we are not... If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it..."" It was an urgent matter, and led to the calling of a Constitutional Convention. Setting aside his plan to retire to Mount Vernon, where he had a happy family life and was fully engaged in his farming enterprises, Washington agreed to be a delegate at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. There he was unanimously elected president of the convention. After successfully bringing the Constitution into being, Washington then sacrificed any hope of returning to private life by accepting the unanimous election to be the nation's first president. Washington was not known for brilliant oratory or prose, but his quiet, steady leadership gave life to the Constitution by showing how it should be enacted. He not only helped write the nation's blueprint; he lived it. In this colorful and moving portrait of America's early struggles, when the fight for survival was constant, Baier captures the dramatic moments when Washington's leadership brought the nation from the brink of collapse. Baier exposes an early America that is grittier and far more divided than it is often portrayed--one we can see reflected in today's conflicts."

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Bret Baier is the chief political anchor for Fox News Channel and the anchor and executive editor of Special Report with Bret Baier. He previously served as Chief White House Correspondent for Fox News Channel and as the network's National Security Correspondent based at the Pentagon, reporting on military and national security affairs. A recipient of the National Press Foundation's Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism, Baier is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Three Days at the Brink: FDR's Daring Gamble to Win WWII; Three Days in Moscow: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of the Soviet Empire; Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission; and Special Heart: A Journey of Faith, Hope, Courage and Love. He lives with his family in Washington, DC.

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