Though George Washington was the first president of the United States, the university bearing his name did not receive its Congressional charter until 1821. Washington had argued for the creation of a university in the District of Columbia for some time. Indeed, he willed fifty shares of his Potomac Company towards the establishment of the university. It would be another president, James Monroe, who would sign the congressional charter bringing the school to life.

The first graduation commencement was held in 1824. To mark this momentous occasion a host dignitaries were invited to attend. They included President Monroe, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and the Marquis de Lafayette among others. The university would enjoy a robust enrollment until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1860. Given its proximity to the battlefields in the South, the university was closed and converted into a Union Army barracks and hospital.

George Washington University, as is the case with much of Washington D.C., has a historic affiliation with Freemasonry. Indeed, Washington himself, as well was the case with the majority of Founding Fathers, was a Freemason. Indeed, the university presidents are sworn in by taking an oath upon Washingtons Freemason Bible. The symbols of Freemasonry are evident throughout the campus and it seems to enjoy a great deal of support and funding from Freemasons.

Today, the university is a private, coeducational, non-sectarian institution. It is renown for its international affairs curriculum, as well as its international affairs, political science, and political communications programs. Furthermore, its graduate and doctoral programs in engineering, international affairs, medicine, and law rank amongst the most well regarded in the county.

It was not until the 1930s that George Washington University enjoyed a solid financial stability. Under the tenures of Presidents Cloyd Heck Marvin, Lloyd Hartman Elliott, and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, the future and prestige of the institution were solidified. It has also been the stage for several historic events, indeed, one of the most defining moments in the 20th Century occurred during the “Fifth Washington Conference on Theoretical Physics” in the Hall of Government on January 26, 1939. Niels Bohr announced that Otto Hahn had successfully split the atom.