President Thomas Jefferson is interviewed by the youngest guest host to ever appear on the Jefferson Hour: Grace Beeby, a freshman at Holy Names Academy in Seattle, Washington.
Grace Beeby first discovered her love of history on a middle school field trip to the Oregon Coast. There, as the wind howled around her and the rain poured down, she found herself surprisingly exhilarated to be standing quite literally in the footsteps of the great explorers Lewis and Clark. This moment ignited not only a new-found sense of adventure, but a full-scale obsession with American history. She is a devoted listener of The Jefferson Hour and an avid reader of history books and biographies. For her school's end-of-year talent show, she brought the house down with a rap number from the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton". Along with her continued admiration for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, she also loves the Founding Fathers, musical theater, social justice, and drawing.
"to the press alone, checkered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity over error and oppression."
— James Madison
We discuss James Madison again this week, President Jefferson's good friend and ally. The question is, what is America? Is it a compact of sovereign states? Or is it as a nation state whose constitution begins with the words, "We the People"?
"Mr. Madison made me look like a slacker."
— Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson
President Thomas Jefferson speaks about his good friend and adviser James Madison.
"It's a very patriotic story in the best sense of the word … these were people who were fighting for a cause."
— Tom Clavin
Clay and David are joined by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin, the #1 New York Times bestselling authors, to discuss their newest book, Valley Forge.
"George Washington ... was as close to a perfect human being as we believed existed on Earth."
— Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson
This week, we speak with President Jefferson about George Washington's farewell address which was first published in Philadelphia's American Daily Advertiser on September 19, 1796, 222 years ago.