on the eve of his marriage, he is infatuated with one of his best friends wives -- sally fairfax, the wife of george williams fairfax. her family occupied a beautiful mansion. it was on the potomac just south of mount vernon. the fairfax family controlled 5 million acres between the potomac and another river. -- and the rappahannock river. they were his sponsors and mentors. he is doing something quite rash. he writes a letter to sally in declaration of love. she rebuffed. i concluded that this had to have been an infatuation rather than what i would call love. i would argue it this way. infatuation can cool rather quickly when circumstances change. real love would have endured. the fact that it did not endure, george and martha washington became very close friends with george william and sally fairfax. after their marriage, they traveled together. they vacationed together. i think that george washington, had he really been love with -- been in love with sally fairfax, the idea of traveling with your wife and the woman you love, it would have been out. -- it would not have worked out.

i think that george washington, had he really been a lot -- been in love with sally fairfax, the idea of traveling with your wife and woman you love it, it would have been out. there was no question that the rights this declaration of love, but i think that it fairly quickly cooled into something else. >> what documents survived the letters? >> we have more of the letters that george wrote to sally rather than what sally wrote to george, which might surprise some of the people. it is based on a small handful of letters that were discovered only -- i think they came to light in the 1950's and people were very shocked by this. george washington was a very passionate figure. he was very attentive to women. the aphrodisiac of power -- i have a many quotes in the book about women swooning over washington and various assemblies. washington took very careful notes of those swooning women. >> you said that he was never able to express his forbidden feelings of rage. he learned to equate silence and a certain man is the liberty of with strength -- certain manly stolidity with strength. you thi

i think if george washington had really been in love with sally fairfax and that had been an enduring form of love, the idea of traveling for a couple of weeks with your wife on the one hand and the woman that you loved on the other hand would not have worked out. so there is no question that he was smitten and there is no question that he writes in what is a declaration of love. but i think that it fairly quickly cooled into something else. >> what document survived the letters of exchange and all that from that period? >> unfortunately we have more of the letters that george wrote to sally rather than we have very few that sally wrote to george which might supply some of the gaps. and it's really based on a small handful of letters that were discovered only, i think they came to light maybe in the 1950s. and of course people were very shocked by this. but again, as i argue in the book, george washington was a very passionate figure. and as i also try to show in the book, he was very attentive to women. the aphrodisiac of power already existed in the 18th century and i have many, man