George Washington

Originally Aired: April 28, 1937 Cavalcade of America #80, "George Washington," finds the celebrated general facing a new challenge after laying down his sword in 1783. Returning to his Mount Vernon plantation after eight years leading the Revolutionary War, Washington confronts devastating reports from his overseer John Alton: corn crops destroyed by drought, tobacco quality plummeting, and soil depleted from years of intensive cultivation. When Governor Randolph arrives offering blocks of stock as a gift from the grateful Virginia Assembly, Washington refuses what he sees as a pension, declaring instead that he has a profession he intends to make the most honorable in the land: farming. Washington immediately begins implementing radical agricultural reforms, ordering his overseers to abandon traditional tobacco planting entirely in favor of experimental crops from around the world and setting aside hundreds of acres as grassland to enrich the soil. His worried overseers, led by Alton, approach Dr. James Crake in private, questioning whether the war has affected Washington's judgment and asking the doctor to intervene. They fear these "wild schemes" will bankrupt their beloved general, unable to understand his vision of scientific farming and soil conservation for future generations.