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The John Batchelor Show

S8 Ep331: PREVIEW THE FOLKLORE OF THE ONLY A MAN STORY Colleague Nathaniel Philbrick. Nathaniel Philbrick discusses a recurring oral tradition where Washington, touring the country, tells awestruck observers that despite his title, he is "only a man." Philbrick arg

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Books, Society & Culture, News, Arts

4.62.7K Ratings

🗓️ 18 January 2026

⏱️ 3 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

PREVIEW THE FOLKLORE OF THE ONLY A MAN STORY Colleague Nathaniel Philbrick. Nathaniel Philbrickdiscusses a recurring oral tradition where Washington, touring the country, tells awestruck observers that despite his title, he is "only a man." Philbrick argues these stories, though absent from contemporary newspapers, likely reflect Washington's genuine efforts to humanize the presidency and acknowledge his own flaws.
1787 ASHINGTON DEPARTS NEW YORK.

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:34.4

with Indeed. This is John Batchel, a conversation with the author Nathaniel Philbrick for his book

0:41.1

Travels with George in Search of Washington and His Legacy.

0:46.0

Here, Nathaniel talks about the old wives tale of when George Washington came riding by

0:52.6

in his tour of New England and the south and the area around Washington,

0:57.1

seeing as many people as he could while he was president in between the moments he was in Philadelphia.

1:04.4

And there are stories that have gone on for more than 100, 200 years about George Washington was here. Here's what he said.

1:14.4

Nathaniel tells another one of those stories, and he's come to credit them, as repeated,

1:20.4

and there's such good stories that you're tempted to doubt them. But Nathania Philbrick,

1:25.4

on the stories told about George Washington came riding by.

1:29.6

More of this tonight on Travels with George.

1:32.5

And then another version of the story is a child stares and wonder at Washington.

1:38.2

And Washington looks down at the child and says, yes, child, I may be the president.

1:42.7

I may be George Washington.

1:46.3

But I am only a man. And initially I was thinking, yes, child, I may be the president, I may be George Washington, but I am only a man.

1:51.9

And initially, I was thinking, well, these are, these are the kinds of oral traditions that are just either too good to be true or, you know, reflect the time that they were remembered,

1:57.2

which was often the 19th century told by an old lady or an old woman who had seen

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