American History Hotline

Episode: Did George Washington Cut Down a Cherry Tree and Tell the Truth?

Host: Bob Crawford
Guest: Alexis Coe (Presidential Historian, author of You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington)
Date: July 23, 2025

Main Theme

This episode investigates the enduring myth of George Washington and the cherry tree, asking: Did the first U.S. president truly chop it down and famously confess, “I cannot tell a lie”? Host Bob Crawford and guest historian Alexis Coe dive into the origins, persistence, and impact of American “fan fiction,” debunking common legends about Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth, and exploring how these myths shaped his legacy and national identity.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Cherry Tree: Myth Origins and Parson Weems ([03:53]–[12:08])

• Listener’s Question: Did George Washington really cut down a cherry tree and then tell the truth?
• Answer: It’s unequivocally a myth. Alexis Coe calls it “by far the greatest fan fiction ever invented” ([04:11]).
• Who started it?
  • The legend originated with Parson Weems, an itinerant minister, bookseller, and self-anointed biographer.
  • Weems did not personally know Washington and had no access to private papers ([08:52]).
  • The cherry tree story doesn’t appear in Weems’s first biography of Washington. Myths compounded over repeated editions and storytelling in public spaces, especially as stories for a largely non-literate nation ([11:00]).
• Motivation Behind the Myth:
  • In post-revolutionary America, there was a yearning for a unifying, morally exemplary founder.
  • Stories like the cherry tree and Valley Forge praying painting were meant to “paint it that Washington was born pure… so that we are all good, that means we’re all Christian, that means we can all have this relationship that a lot of people increasingly want” ([11:36]).
• Other Myths from Parson Weems: The Valley Forge prayer scene; both are retrospective inventions not supported by contemporary evidence ([06:35]).
• Notable Quote:

  “He could very much tell a lie. And we know this without even fact checking the story... George Washington, to say that he could never tell a lie is denying him one of the great passions of his life, which was spying. He was a spy master during the war and he loved it.” – Alexis Coe [04:18]

Washington the Man – Myth vs. Reality

“He Could Never Tell a Lie” – The Spy Master ([04:18])

• Alexis Coe debunks the idea that Washington was utterly truthful.
• Washington delighted in espionage and deception as commander of the Continental Army.

The Valley Forge Praying Painting ([06:35]–[08:35])

• The famous painting was made decades after Washington’s death. No contemporary accounts support it.
• Washington was a deist, not likely to kneel in the snow to pray.

Historiography and Gender ([12:50])

• Coe is the first woman in over a century to write a major biography of Washington solo, noting a persistent male gaze in earlier works ([12:50]).

Obsessed with Thighs: The Strange Legacy of Male Biographies ([13:19])

• Biographers endlessly described Washington’s physicality—especially his thighs—and virility, often to cover insecurities or lack of accessible emotional detail.

  “They all start out the same way. As if, like everyone took an oath... We’re gonna say he’s too marble to be real.” – Alexis Coe [13:57]

Debunking the Wooden Teeth ([18:14]–[22:03])

• Not Wooden:
  • Washington’s false teeth were made from ivory (including hippopotamus), and, crucially, the teeth of enslaved people.
  • The wooden teeth story is a mask for the more uncomfortable historical truth.
• The Real Story:

  “We know from his ledgers and diaries that he paid people who he enslaved for their teeth, and he paid them under market value.” – Alexis Coe [20:10]

• How the Dentures Worked:
  • They were primitive and painful, often changing the shape of Washington’s face in portraits.

Why These Myths Persist: America’s Need for Founding Legends ([25:15]–[35:27])

Washington’s Awareness of His Own Myth ([25:15])

• He disliked public adulation and became a “hermit” at Mount Vernon to avoid constant attention.

• He only enjoyed his fame when it benefited his agricultural interests (notably when seeking a mule for breeding) ([26:25]).

• Washington was acutely aware of his legacy but was more pragmatic and reserved than popularly imagined.

  “The only time I would say that he really enjoyed being famous… was [when] he really wants a mule.” – Alexis Coe [26:25]

Shaping the National Story ([31:03])

• Early biographies and myths became the default American narrative due to an absence of standardized historical scholarship in the early 19th century.

• The country struggled to grapple with complexity, preferring purity and simplicity in its founding stories.

• Coe urges embracing complexity—not only the admirable (spymaster, innovator) but also the troubling (slaveholder, buyer of enslaved people’s teeth).

• Three simultaneous truths America needs to hold:

  1. Pride in the founding
  2. Reckoning for where it has fallen short
  3. Aspiration for a better future ([34:56])

  “You are not complicit in any narrative if you don’t resist the truth. If you resist the truth... you are complicit.” – Alexis Coe [34:04]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Cherry Tree & Childhood Truth:

  “If you’ve ever spoken to a child, the concept of truth is very loose because their concept of the world is very loose and what’s possible.” – Alexis Coe [04:32]

• On Biography as ‘Fan Fiction’:

  “The reason this story exists is because of a man with a great name, Parson Weems.” – Alexis Coe [05:50]

• On the Use of Myths:

  “Any way that you can paint it that Washington was born pure... that means that we’re all good.” – Alexis Coe [11:36]

• On Handling Historical Complexity:

  “Complexity, it’s not a liability.” – Alexis Coe [32:46] “Best of luck if you’re trying to cancel him, right? Because you... I don’t know how you do that. You cancel George Washington, you cancel America.” – Alexis Coe [33:40]

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Time | Topic / Segment | |-----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------| | 03:47 | Introduction of Alexis Coe; myth origins | | 04:18 | Debunking the cherry tree and “could never tell a lie” myth | | 05:50 | Parson Weems and the invention of Washington’s legends | | 06:35 | The Valley Forge praying painting myth; Weems’s other inventions| | 12:50 | Historiography & gender in Washington biographies | | 13:57 | The obsession with Washington’s thighs | | 16:24 | The smallpox/infertility rumor | | 18:14 | The truth about Washington’s teeth | | 20:10 | Washington’s dentures and enslaved people’s teeth | | 25:15 | Deification of Washington and his own feelings about it | | 26:25 | Washington’s discomfort with fame; his “mule hustle” | | 31:03 | The shaping of Washington’s reputation; holding complexity | | 34:56 | Three things Americans must recognize about their founding |

Takeaways

• The cherry tree story is pure myth—crafted after Washington’s death to satisfy a young nation’s thirst for moral exemplars.
• Many popular stories about Washington (including his wooden teeth and pious prayer at Valley Forge) are fiction, often obscuring more uncomfortable truths, such as his participation in slavery.
• Early American biographies were unregulated “wild west” storytelling, with Parson Weems as the most influential mythmaker.
• Alexis Coe’s scholarship, as a break from the male-dominated tradition, brings new layers of complexity and candor to the study of Washington.
• America’s attachment to founding legends is understandable but must give way to honest reckoning with the full reality of its past—a synthesis of pride, truth, and aspiration.

Relevant for listeners seeking the truth behind American myths and the role of storytelling in shaping national identity.