Thanks to a student for pointing this story out to me. The common story, which I've repeated, is that Washington altered the presidential oath of office to include "so help me God" at the end, thus beginning a tradition that lasts til today.
A historian points out that not only is there no evidence from that time that he did so (the story evolved decades later) altering the oath seem not to be the sort of thing Washington would have been inclined to do -- having just approved the oath as written in the Constitution. There's more to the argument.
Reminds me of the story regarding the cherry tree (look here and here).
This fits into our discussion of the personal presidency, the efforts to define in terms of the characters of the individuals who occupy it. The stories reflect less on Washington than on what we (or more appropriately the storytellers) want to believe about historical figures.
Please send more.
