A Historical Survey of George Washington University

By James Gilbert Pynn

The university that would bear the name of the first president of the United States would not be commissioned by Congress until 1821. Washington had argued for the creation of a university in the District of Columbia for some time. Indeed, he willed fifty shares of his Potomac Company towards the establishment of the university. It would be another president, James Monroe, who would sign the congressional charter bringing the school to life.

In 1824, the university held its first commencement. To mark this momentous occasion a host dignitaries were invited to attend. They included President Monroe, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and the Marquis de Lafayette among others. The university would enjoy a robust enrollment until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1860. Given its proximity to the battlefields in the South, the university was closed and converted into a Union barracks and hospital.

As is the case with the majority of Washington D.C., George Washington University has intimate ties to Freemasonry. Indeed, Washington himself, as well was the case with the majority of Founding Fathers, was a Freemason. Indeed, the university presidents are sworn in by taking an oath upon Washingtons Freemason Bible. The symbols of Freemasonry are evident throughout the campus and it seems to enjoy a great deal of support and funding from Masonic organizations.

The university is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian institution. It is renown for its international affairs curriculum, as well as its international affairs, political science, and political communications programs. Furthermore, its graduate and doctoral programs in engineering, international affairs, medicine, and law rank amongst the most esteemed in the world.

The financial stability that George Washington University enjoys was cultivated during the Thirties. Under the tenures of Presidents Cloyd Heck Marvin, Lloyd Hartman Elliott, and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, the future and prestige of the institution were solidified. It has also been the stage for several historic events. In perhaps one of the most defining moments in the 20th Century, Niels Bohr announced that Otto Hahn had successfully split the atom on January 26, 1939. The announcement was made at the "Fifth Washington Conference on Theoretical Physics" in the Hall of Government.

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