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Mount Vernon Says It Owns George Washington's Copy Of Don Quixote, Not Glenn Beck
The conservative host has been wielding a copy of the book while campaigning for Ted Cruz, claiming it belonged to Washington.
02/23/2016
Michael Calderone
Senior Media Reporter, The Huffington Post

NEW YORK -- As Glenn Beck has campaigned for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), the conservative host has repeatedly wielded a copy of a Don Quixote he claims was purchased by George Washington the day the Constitution was signed.

Beck, who has compared Cruz to a modern-day Washington, showed off the book at campaign stops in Iowa last month.

"He wrote two lines [in his diary] on the day of the signing of the Constitution," Beck said of Washington during a Jan. 30 stop in Ames, Iowa."First line: 'Signed the Constitution today.' Second line: 'I pick up my copy of Don Quixote.' This is his copy of Don Quixote that he picked up that day.”

"I brought it because here’s the most amazing thing anybody had ever done, but he had such confidence in it," Beck continued. "He knew the brighter days for all mankind -- not just America, all mankind -- were just on the horizon. He had done his job and he could sleep at night."

Beck pulled out the book again in recent days while stumping for Cruz in Nevada and apparently gave it to an audience member to hold.

But the museum at Mount Vernon, Washington's Virginia home, says the copy of Don Quixote in question, which Washington purchased in Philadelphia on Sept. 17, 1787, is stored safely in its collection. A Mount Vernon spokeswoman told HuffPost that it's in the rare books vault at the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, the presidential library in Washington's home. Mount Vernon even displays images of the book on its website.

Spain's ambassador gave Washington a Spanish-language version of the book later that same year. A spokeswoman said the Spanish version, too, is stored at Mount Vernon.

Beck did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The copy of Don Quixote isn't the only artifact related to Washington that Beck has shown off at Cruz events in recent weeks. He also brought out what he's claimed is Washington's compass in arguing that America needs someone like Cruz who displays the exactness of a surveyor.

This article was updated after publication to further emphasize that Beck claims the book in his possession was purchased in 1787.