“You can object to anybody’s politics, but I firmly believe that you can’t object to President Obama’s character.”
President Thomas Jefferson speaks about the White House — during his time and ours — with this week's special guest, Beau Wright. Wright spent over five years serving in the White House, nearly two years of that time as Senior Deputy Director of White House Operations and Director for Finance.
Beau Wright is Director of Operations for United to Protect Democracy. He previously served in President Obama’s White House for 5.5 years, most recently as Senior Deputy Director of Operations and Director for Finance. In this capacity, Beau oversaw the crafting and execution of the White House budget. In addition to his operations and finance experience, Beau also served as an assistant in the Office of the White House Counsel and, during the 2012 election, as an advance staff member for Vice President Joe Biden. A native of Lynchburg, Virginia, Beau received his B.A. from the College of William & Mary in 2011.
Further Reading
Scenes of Visionary Enchantment
The Jefferson Watch
"How does it happen? How do we get so busy with our lives, so stuck in routines, that we surrender our autonomy and sometimes our integrity, and become not much more than robots going through the motions of life but with pretty anemic vital signs.
"I know this much. That it is essential to my happiness that I break my routines a few times per year, get out into some heartbreakingly beautiful lonely place in the American West, where I can sit under the stars at night, listen to the crooning of coyotes, contemplate the ways in which the limber pines sway and dance in the nocturnal breeze, watch for shooting stars, breathe deep, and let the accumulated noise and angst and strain slip out of my soul to be drawn down the great river towards the Gulf of Mexico."
Read this week's Jefferson Watch essay.
What Would Jefferson Do?
“I had been a hard worker all of my life. From my earliest childhood, I had read five, ten, sometimes fifteen hours per day.”
Tune in to your local public radio or join the 1776 Club to hear this episode of What Would Thomas Jefferson Do?
President Jefferson speaks about the challenges he encountered during his first term as president, and offers his guiding principle that he views government as "a few plain duties" performed by a few honest men. He also offers some private advice to our new president on division and building consensus.
President Thomas Jefferson joins us this week to discuss the formation of his first cabinet. He had a great deal of experience having attended nearly 60 cabinet meetings serving as Secretary of State during the Washington administration. Jefferson chose his cabinet carefully, wanting to avoid the conflict he experienced in the Washington administration.
President Thomas Jefferson was sworn in as our third President on March 4, 1801. He was dressed simply, wearing nothing that would distinguish him from the crowd gathered at noon as he entered the Capitol and then the Senate Gallery to give his speech. The theme of his speech was reconciliation after his bitterly partisan election. This week, Mister Jefferson joins us and recites that speech.
Recorded on November 6, 2020, three days after the election, Clay Jenkinson and Joseph Ellis share their thoughts on the recent presidential election and predictions about what’s to come in the next presidency. The two scholars also offer historical context between the elections of Jefferson’s time and this election of 2020.