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(2014) Character assassination throughout the ages, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
In 1776, near the New Jersey shore, the advancing British army, aided by their American loyalists, captured George Washington's manservant. His name was Billy Lee. On him, the captors found a portmanteau with the generals personal belongings and several letters addressed to his family. In these letters, the future first president of the United States expressed deep regrets about the war he had waged against his fellow British. He worried about his fate. He felt that he was a coward. He wanted to strike a peace deal with the king, whom he loved, as the letters revealed.1 The British and the loyalists could not believe their luck. They thought that the seized documents would deliver the fatal blow to Washington's reputation and might accelerate the end of the rebellion in North America.
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Full citation:
Smart, J. , Shiraev, E. (2014)., Character attacks and American presidents, in M. Icks & E. Shiraev (eds.), Character assassination throughout the ages, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 215-235.
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