George Washington

My hero is George Washington. Unfortunately, Washington's name has become so familiar that we forget what a great person he was. He commanded a ragtag army of volunteers against what was then the mightiest force in the world: the British empire. He did so not from the comfort of a Manhattan townhouse, but from shared quarters in the frozen fields of Valley Forge.

After leading his men to victory against all odds, Washington retired to Mt. Vernon rather than following the 18th-century custom of crowning himself "emperor." Several years later, his peers elected him Chairman of the Constitutional Convention, the most illustrious gathering in America's 200 year history. Washington presided over three months of torpid heat and even hotter debate to secure a document that elevated the rule of law over selfish ambition and laid the foundations for the world's most enduring democracy. And, finally, he was chosen as the first elected leader of that nation, a post from which he voluntarily stepped down to once again become a private citizen.

A man of true intellectual and moral leadership, our first president deserves a place in your hall of heroes.