Don Wildman

Yeah, the phrase is, the times make the man.

I mean, to paraphrase, in a way, the wars make the generals, don't they?

I mean, the challenges they must meet create these guys.

Okay, we're in the pantheon here, the last two generals.

So obviously, we're going to talk about George Washington.

But his effectiveness as a military leader has been called into question over the years, very surprisingly to me.

He certainly had some ignominious episodes early in his career before he was a general working for the British.

Why was his legacy questioned?

Why is it?

And what in your mind redeems him?

Leader of men is, you know, to say the least with this.

But those men are not just the ones who are marching with him and fighting for them.

It's the men who are making up a brand new government who are just figuring it out on their own.

He's like an Eisenhower in that regard, where he's, you know, shaping the vision of this country as it's in the works, let alone then becoming, you know.

It's an insane achievement as a human being what he does.

He sets standards that we hold today still.

I get emotional when I talk about Washington.

An amazing human to have as your founding father.

Ken Burns' new American Revolution starts out in that first episode saying there was never a more important revolution fought.

And I was like, wow, that's true.