Interview with Presidential Historian Doris Kearns-Goodwin on George Washington

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WASHINGTON

NEW AND EXCLUSIVE SERIES ON HISTORY®

VANAF 23 AUGUSTUS, IEDERE ZONDAG OM 20.30 (3x2hrs) Brand new and exclusive three-part mini-series only on HISTORY

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HISTORY® explores the myth, the legend and the truth behind one of the most influential men in American history, George Washington, in this brand new docu-drama. Narrated by Emmy award- winning actor Jeff Daniels and executive produced by world-renowned presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize®-winning bestselling author Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Contributions to the series come from a wide range of prominent individuals, including Bill Clinton, Colin Powell, and several leading Washington biographers, including Pulitzer Prize® winning historians: Joanne Freeman, Alan Taylor, Jon Meacham and Annette Gordon-Reed.

Washington chips away at the pristine image of America's first President and brings to life the man whose name is known to all, but whose epic story is understood by few. The 3x2 hour miniseries traces George Washington’s path from a young man hungry for prestige to eventually becoming the first President of the United States of America.

Originally an officer in the British military, Washington (played by British actor Nicholas Rowe) grew disenchanted with the empire he once aspired to serve and set course for achieving the unimaginable through cunning, ingenuity and sheer force of will.

As the American colonies made their final break from the British empire, their newly minted commander-in-chief fought the most powerful and seasoned armed forces in the world with a ragtag group of soldiers that was undisciplined, inexperienced and underfunded. Washington, with no formal military training or major victory to his name, led the American colonies to independence from the British Empire.

During the process he is also transformed, from a man driven by ambition, to a man leading a far larger cause of liberty. With the fate of the young republic at stake, Washington rises to the moment, becoming the inevitable, though reluctant, hero his country needs.

While warring nations attack America's borders and uprisings threaten from within, Washington builds the new United States – enduring treachery and personal attacks – while setting the country on a course that still dictates much of the American experience to this day.

Washington is the all-encompassing tale of the founding father’s life and achievements, which explores the heroic alongside the more troubling – and much less widely known – side to Washington’s character and story.

Washington (3x120”) premieres in the Netherlands on HISTORY on 23 August at 20.30; episode 2 – 30 August and episode 3 – 6 September August at 20.30.

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Episode 1 available here | Password: WASHINGTON Additional imagery and episodes available upon request

Editor’s Notes • Interviews with Doris Kearns-Goodwin available. • Clips, viewing materials and images to be provided on request. • Interviews with cast and production team available on request. • Social: @HISTORYBenelux Website: www.History.nl

For more information please contact:

Jo Fellows op A+E Networks UK / [email protected] / +44 7583 022 665 Adel Brandlin op A+E Networks UK / [email protected]

Over A+E Networks UK A + E Networks® UK, een joint venture tussen Hearst en Sky, is een toonaangevend medianetwerk dat 60 miljoen huishoudens in 100 landen bereikt. Met ons portfolio van populaire, goed presterende en creatieve merken - HISTORY®, Crime + Investigation®, Lifetime®, HISTORY2® en UK free to air BLAZE® - vermaken en inspireren we ons publiek al meer dan 20 jaar: we vertellen de verhalen die verteld moeten worden. Zowel onze feitelijke als entertainment programma’s zijn bekroond en omvatten wereldwijde hits zoals Forged in Fire en Born This Way, en niet te missen dramaseries zoals Knightfall en Vikings. Daarnaast werken we ook aan originele, plaatselijke opdrachten, waaronder: Al Murray's Why Does Everyone Hate the English, Murdertown with Katherine Kelly (VK), Married at First Sight (Afrika) en The Hunt for Baltic Gold (Polen). We vullen onze programmering aan met best beoordeelde podcasts en innovatieve, exclusieve digitale inhoud wat wordt begeleid door industrietalent. We werken momenteel samen met meer dan 360 partners die onze programma’s uitzenden in de Scandinavische landen, de Benelux, Centraal-Europa, het Midden-Oosten en Afrika. We hebben kantoren in Londen, Warschau en Johannesburg. https://www.aenetworks.tv/ @AENetworksUK

VANAF 23 AUGUSTUS, IEDERE ZONDAG OM 20.30 (3x2hrs) Brand new and exclusive three-part mini-series only on HISTORY

Find out more about WASHINGTON here:

INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN DORIS KEARNS-GOODWIN ON GEORGE WASHINGTON

Washington, HISTORY’s new three-part doc-drama explores the myth, the legend and the truth behind one of the most influential men in American history, George Washington.

The series is narrated by Emmy award-winning actor Jeff Daniels and executive produced by world- renowned presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. HISTORY spoke to Goodwin, the Pulitzer Prize- winner and bestselling author about producing the series and about the life of this American icon.

One of the difficulties in telling the story of Washington is that for many Americans, he is a remote figure, more myth than man: a statue rather than a person as one of the contributors puts it. "It's hard to see him as a human being,” admits Doris Kearns Goodwin, “so we started the series when he was young, on his first mission for the King (King George II). And you see him confused about what he's supposed to be doing, not being a good leader of men, having to figure out that he screwed up and learning, over time how to become a better leader. And I think that's the way you can humanize somebody, to watch them grow in the course of their career.”

Washington's transformation from ambitious young man to the father of a nation is remarkable. “You see his ambition, but it grows to something greater than it was at the beginning. What started as a self- seeking ambition to be recognized by the British becomes a larger ambition to really be involved in this incredible momentum that's going on to create a new country separate from anyone,” Goodwin explains.

“Once he wins the revolution, he could have just taken over the country as most revolutionary leaders do. He could have been a king. But he chooses not to. He goes home, resigns his commission, and then is called back to be President.” As America's first President he set the tone for future leaders. 'He makes the choice of what kind of President he's going to be. Not a regal king but a democratic king in a certain sense. And then after two terms decides to go home.”

It must have taken immense strength of character to step away from the Presidency after two terms but what sort of man was Washington? Goodwin credits him with “a sense, of rectitude and courage," which informed his military success. “In each of these battles, he just forges forward and never hangs back.”

Self-belief was an important part of who he was as a leader both on the battlefield and off explains Goodwin, “He's got enough strength to surround himself with people who argue with him and tell him his strategy is wrong, and he listens and sometimes he goes along with them and other times he brings them along with him.'

Even for an American audience schooled in the biography of Washington - and for international viewers even more so - there are some surprises. Goodwin, herself an acclaimed Presidential historian, learned new things about Washington, as exec producer on the series. “I think the most important thing that people will be surprised to learn is how critical were those early battles in the French and Indian War. He learns a lot about war, and the and the devastation of war,” says Goodwin.

The French and Indian Wars - “a very confusing war. The Native Americans are split on different sides. The French are there, the British are there” - laid the groundwork for the American Revolution. As the war drags on, the expenses rack up, forcing the British to go back on their promise to give land to those who fought, in the Proclamation of 1763. Additional taxes added further resentment that “created the groundswell for the revolution.” Another surprising revelation according to Washington biographer Joe Ellis is that Washington was a good dancer. Ellis goes so far as describing America’s founding father as “a bit of a stud”, to explain why Martha who came from a wealthy background would have fallen for the lowly Washington.

The contributors in the series are seriously impressive, President Clinton and General Colin Powell join the roster of well-respected Washington scholars and academics. What insight to have a former President discussing the first President of the United States and a General discussing America’s most respected war hero. “They could speak from experience in a way that historians reading presidential memoirs or diaries cannot.” Clinton’s interview was a highlight for Goodwin, “We were really happy with the interview, it brings so more than just his experience as a president. He really knew a lot about George Washington.”

The series was first aired in the US earlier in the year but the timing for its international premiere is extremely relevant given the conversation America is currently having about its own history. How does America reconcile the fact that Washington, their greatest hero was a slave owner (along with most of the Founding Fathers)?

“The slavery issue was dealt with in the documentary,” Goodwin explains. “We can value history, without sugar-coating the parts of the person that we really wish hadn't happened while on the other hand, not taking down their accomplishments. There's this kind of undercurrent of criticism of these great leaders of ours who did things that we wish they didn't do. But it's really important to understand why they did the things that make us really sad.”

These sorts of debates underline the importance of understanding history and why looking to the past can offer up so many lessons for the future. Famously President Barack Obama cited Goodwin’s work on Abraham Lincoln Team of Rivals, as the one book he could not live without in the White House.

Even before he became President and appointed his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton Secretary of State, he was a fan of Goodwin’s book. “When he was still really a long shot running against Hillary, one day I got a call on my cell phone and he said “Hello this is Barack Obama. I’ve just read Team of Rivals and we have to talk,’’ fondly recalls Goodwin. “He was so respectful of Lincoln's emotional qualities, his ability to forget resentments to put past hurts behind him and Lincoln’s characterological traits. He was still a Senator then starting to run so I went to visit him.’

When Obama won the nomination, a reporter asked him whether he would be prepared to put a chief rival into his inner circle, he said yes, and he quoted Lincoln. “These are perilous times; these are the strongest and most stable people in the country. I need them by my side,” remembers Goodwin.

Doris Kearns-Goodwin has written about Presidents and inspired them. As executive producer of Washington she is tackling the story of the man who started it all, the man whose name is known to all, but whose epic story is understood by few.

Washington (3x120”) premieres in the Netherlands on HISTORY on 23 August at 20.30; episode 2 – 30 August and episode 3 – 6 September August at 20.30.

ENDS

Episode 1 available here | Password: WASHINGTON Additional imagery and episodes available upon request

For more information please contact:

Jo Fellows op A+E Networks UK / [email protected] / +44 7583 022 665 Adel Brandlin op A+E Networks UK / [email protected]