On George Washington’s birthday in 1892, former President Grover Cleveland urged graduating students at the University of Michigan to “take with you … a strong and abiding faith in the value and potency of a good conscience and a pure heart. Never yield one iota to those who teach that these are weak and childish things, not needed in the struggle of manhood with the stern realities of life.”
The speech embracing Washington’s virtues was “perhaps the most unusual kickoff to a presidential campaign in American history,” wrote Cleveland biographer Troy Senik….
