30 April is Honesty Day in the US. It was chosen for two reasons. First, as a foil to the first day of the month, April Fool’s Day. Secondly, to celebrate the inauguration of President George Washington on 30 April 1789.
Washington died in 1799. A year later an entrepreneur pumped out The Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington. Curiously, the cherry tree episode only takes up residence in the 5th edition of 1806:
“I can’t tell a lie, Pa; you know I can’t tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.”–Run to my arms, you dearest boy, cried his father in transports, run to my arms; glad am I, George, that you killed my tree; for you have paid me for it a thousand fold. Such an act of heroism in my son, is more worth than a thousand trees, though blossomed with silver, and their fruits of purest gold.
In 1835, PT – “There’s a sucker born every minute” – Barnum corralled a slave to pose as a 161-year-old who had formerly nursed Washington; she gave a highly popular version of the event, though it was diminished to breaking some peach tree branches.
On 30 April 1973, President Nixon missed a cherry tree moment with the American people in his first Watergate address, declaring “There can be no whitewash at the White House”. He resigned the next year.
