ABSTRACT
The American public's fascination with the presidency and the men who have occupied that most venerated position remains as strong as when George Washington first took office in 1789. Washington, despite his reputation as a war hero and defender of liberty, was almost immediately set upon by hostile editors intent upon pursuing a variety of both personal and political agenda. Washington once complained to Jefferson of newspapers printing the "grossest and most insidious misrepresentations" of his conduct. John Adams encountered his own share of vilification in the pages of the nation's newspapers during his tenure as the country's second president. Like a great many of his successors, George Washington expressed an ongoing exasperation with sensational coverage of his administration that accused him of everything from being a monarchist to being overly extravagant with public funds.
