George Washington famously declined a $500/month salary (~$18.6k today) Of course, the ledgers of the Continental Army show he spent freely on himself. He regularly spent 5x the monthly salary of his generals ($166/month) on Madeira wine alone. And spent $27.6k - a large portion of the war chest - ferrying Martha Washington up to see him regularly. But he won the war, and to his credit, turned over honest ledgers showing these expenses when accused in 1783 of war profiteering. He asked for $170k in reimbursement for personal expenses. Government auditors agreed he was owed… less than $1 in reimbursable expenses. Founders are valuable, but the line between grifter and hero is often just whether they succeed.