US Presidency
1925

The contemplation of his life and work will forever strengthen our faith in our country and in our country's God. Those men who have taken great parts in the world are commonly ranked by posterity according to their accomplishment while living, and the permanent worth of the monuments representing their achievements which remain after they are gone. By this standard I think we may regard George Washington as the first lay citizen of the world of all time. He was one in whom the elements of greatness were so evenly blended, so accurately proportioned, that his character has well nigh defied analysis. Others have created wider commotion and deeper impression in the hour of their eminence. But we shall hardly find one who in his own day achieved so much as Washington and left his work so firmly established that posterity, generation after generation, can only increase its tributes to his ability, his wisdom, his patriotism, and his rounded perfection in the character of a Christian citizen. No figure in profane history has inspired so many testimonies of admiration.