This is an IHeart podcast.

On this episode of News World, the lives of these men are essential to understand the American

form of government and our ideals of liberty.

The founding fathers all played key roles in securing American independence from Great Britain

and in the creation of the government of the United States of America.

And now, the life of George Washington.

Thank you. I wanted to start the entire podcast series with George Washington

because literally we all stand on his shoulders

to the degree that this is a country that has a remarkable ability for freedom

that is open to everyone and that creates a framework

within which normal people can lead unusual and extraordinary lives. All of that started

and was based on Washington. One of the best biographies of Washington describes him as literally irreplaceable, that he is the man that was the essential person for the entire creation of America.

And I think that's true.

Every time Clist and I go down to Mount Vernon and we look at that house he lived in with Martha and we look out on the Potomac, we realize that he had this

sense. He loved being a farmer. He loved the land. He had a sense of solidness, partly because he

was so big physically. I always tell people that if you played Washington in the modern era,

you should be basically an NFL

offensive lineman. He was physically so large for a time when the average man was about five,

six. He was also considered the best horsemen in the colonies, which if you're that big physically

and you're that good a horseman, he's astonishing. And Washington had this strength, both physical and moral. Part of his physical

strength just came, I think, biologically, he was just that big, and he worked as a farmer.

He worked as a frontiersman. He used his body his whole life. When he was serving in the

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