David Morse’s George Washington in HBO’s John Adams embodies the discipline, restraint, and moral authority of an ISTJ 1w9 personality type. This analysis explores how his ISTJ structure and Enneagram 1w9 integrity shape his leadership, composure, and sense of duty.

ISTJ 1w9 Characters

Why is George Washington from John Adams an ISTJ 1w9? Continue reading for my argument using cognitive functions! The headers for each section are clickable, so you can easily access more information about the dominant function and the Enneagram type, or discover more characters who share the type.

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Introverted Sensing

George Washington is chosen to lead the Continental army because of his long-standing reputation as a successful military officer, known for his courage and conviction in battle. Once he has accepted the role as general, he pushes John Adams to get them what they need, by focusing on the practical details and concerns of his army. He says many men have deserted, because they cannot pay them enough; that their supplies are diminished, they need food and particularly shoes, and cannot be expected to fight without them. He feels a sense of closeness to others through their mutual experiences and hardships in the war, and knows that no one who has not been on a battlefield can fully understand what it is like, or what it does to the morale.

Washington likes to fully assess a situation and find out all its details before committing to it, which puts him at odds with Thomas Jefferson when Jefferson wants America to get involved in the French Revolution. Rather than reinvent the wheel, Washington uses familiar battle tactics in the war, leading to successful victories, and places a great deal of trust in earlier governments; he models the behavior, functions, and even some of the laws of his government over those in Europe, but also pushes against anything that is too traditional that might threaten their new government.

Extraverted Thinking

The series does not go into a lot of his executive decisions on-screen, which included strong battle tactics, crossing the Delaware river at night to catch the army off guard, employing spies in occupied territories, and other tactical decisions that helped them successfully defeat the English. But it touches on his plainspoken nature, his demand for better supplies, his capturing of cannons, his repurposing of stolen ammunition, and the assembling of his Cabinet. He collects intelligent people to help him form this new government, but then is annoyed with their infighting and keeps them in line the same way he would military men; with reprimands, demanding they be civil, and deliberately excluding Adams from meetings, as punishment for his unpopular opinions. Washington expects obedience and his decisions regarding their potential alliance with the “new” French government are final. His decision not to get involved in the French Revolution is also a logical one, because it would impact their new nation negatively to be associated with such rampant and callous bloodshed. He even gets in a dig, by saying that their agreement between two nations was made with a king whose head has now been severed from his body, so they need a new treaty.

Introverted Feeling

Honor does not merely compel him to action; Washington strongly believes in the cause, so much so he is willing to risk his life for it. He is emotionally subdued, but has a strong personal sense of honor that is offended when others treat one another in ways he believes are inconsiderate and immature. He opens up to Abigail Adams when they cross paths, by understanding her need to communicate with her husband and agreeing to send her personal letters to him in his own dispatches, so they never fall into the wrong hands or make them objects of ridicule. Sometimes, Washington punishes people by removing his favor from them and giving them silence; he excludes Adams from a Cabinet meeting and then his only explanation is that he will not be called a king.

Extraverted Intuition

Washington is a learned man, willing and eager to listen to the ideas of others, sometimes able to participate in them, but not always inclined to follow their guidance. Fear of unforeseen consequences in the French Revolution leads him to refuse to participate. On occasion Washington shows a more romantic and melancholy nature, which accompanies his theorizing on the present moment (his concerns in battle, his shared desire to see the war end, and his thoughts about the French).

The Enneagram 1

Principled and a man of duty, Washington does not want to be the President, but when they offer it to him, he accepts out of a sense of needing to do it. It’s expected, it is what is right, and he will do his best to guide this new nation. But he expects proper behavior, and proper attentiveness to all areas of life, from those around him. When the Congress wastes time arguing semantics rather than funding the military and sending them reinforcements, supplies, and help, Washington becomes angry about it and appeals to John Adams to do something about it. Later, when Hamilton and Jefferson are at each other’s throats, he gets angry and tells them that if they cannot treat each other with civility, they need not attend the meetings at all (“You will respect each other!”). He commiserates with Abigail about the necessity of war, the hardships faced at home by the women, and the drive of duty in both their lives.

The 9 Wing

His dislike of conflict is what drives him to retire from public life, when the sea of public opinion turns against him and they are burning effigies of him in the streets after an unpopular but principled decision (not to support the French). It annoys him when people argue around him, and he expects them to shape up, but only occasionally raises his voice to them. Washington often lets John Adams fight the loud battles for him, since he does not have the energy required to do his duty and argue with lots of people all at once. He punishes Adams with passive-aggression; leaving him out of discussions rather than to engage in a direct and loud confrontation about his statements in Congress.