Historian questions Washington quote

BEND, Ore. — A phrase attributed to George Washington that appears on a veterans monument outside the Deschutes County Courthouse was likely never spoken or written by the first president of the United States, according to one of the country’s leading Washington scholars.

The monument, dedicated on Veterans Day 2005, is inscribed with a quotation attributed to Washington.

“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation,” reads the monument.

However, according to Edward Lengel, a professor at the University of Virginia, author and editor of books on Washington, and the editor of the university’s efforts to preserve all of the first president’s writings, there’s no evidence these words were ever spoken or written by Washington.

Lengel said the statement has been widely circulated as Washington’s over the years regardless, appearing in several books, read into the Congressional Record and referenced repeatedly by Sen. John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign. Lengel said it remains unclear where the quote actually originated, or when it was first attributed to Washington.

Historical figures as prominent as Washington inevitably spawn myths and other tales of questionable veracity, Lengel said, but he sees unsourced quotations as different from the story of Washington supposedly cutting down a cherry tree as a young boy, or his wooden false teeth.

“Yarn-spinning is part of the human condition. But while I have no problem with storytelling, I do not think that the use of unproven ‘facts’ in political debate or in public forums is ever innocuous,” Lengel wrote in an email last week. “Unfounded assertions of this kind, however noble their aim, can be and often are pernicious. Public officials have a responsibility (which alas they often ignore) to check their facts.”

Susan Ross, property and facilities manager for Deschutes County, said she attempted to check the facts while working with the veterans groups that asked the county for permission to build the monument. Ross said the veterans groups proposed using the Washington quote, and a quick Google search gave her no reason to think it was illegitimate.

“At the time we did it, everyone thought it was a correct quote — at the time,” she said. “A quote that’s been around for a very long time, you just assume that it’s a good quote.”