The Man Who Would Be Our King

摘要

The children of paul Emery Washington think of their father as an unpretentious guy who climbed the corporate ladder to become regional manager at Certain-Teed manufacturing. Now 82, the Texas native takes care of his wife, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, and spends time with his children. "I think he would've been a great king," says son Bill Washington. That may sound odd-except that Paul Emery Washington is a descendant of George Washington, America's first president and perhaps the only man in history who turned down the position of monarch.Had George Washington ascended to the throne, Paul Emery Washington might now be King Paul I. Lore has it that President Washington was so adored after the Revolutionary War that a group of citizens frustrated with the Continental Congress floated the idea of a coup d'etat and the installation of King George. But Washington squelched the idea. Since then, historians and genealogy buffs have pondered what might've happened if he'd been a bit more power hungry.