“How can you call yourself a Jeffersonian if you don’t go see [the eclipse]?”
Clay takes us on a road trip to Wyoming to witness the eclipse. Later in the episode, David Nicandri phones in to report on his experience.
The Eclipse of Authenticity
The Jefferson Watch
In late August, 2017, "The time was out of joint," as Hamlet puts it, and I found myself in the days before the gathering time in Washington, DC, working on something completely unrelated. But when I landed back in Bismarck Saturday evening, on the eve of the eve of the great eclipse, and thought what it would mean to miss such a cosmic moment, I spontaneously threw a sleeping bag and tent into my car and Sunday morning drove off to Wyoming.
Read this week's Jefferson Watch essay, "The Eclipse of Authenticity."
What Would Jefferson Do?
“The universe is a clock … it’s an elaborate machine.”
Tune in to your local public radio or join the 1776 Club to hear this episode of What Would Thomas Jefferson Do?
"For Franklin, knowledge was important, but application of knowledge ... mattered to him as much as any pure science."
— Clay S. Jenkinson
Thomas Jefferson had an immense respect for Benjamin Franklin, who was nearly 37 years his senior. Franklin became one of the most respected Americans during the revolution and was, in a sense, pushed there by British arrogance.
President Thomas Jefferson speaks to us this week about inventions and scientific discoveries of his time including some he was responsible for.
"He and Jefferson talked about everything."
— Stephen Fried
Benjamin Rush was a physician, politician, social reformer, humanitarian, educator, and a signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Rush was a leader of the American Enlightenment and an enthusiastic supporter of the American Revolution. Born the son of a Philadelphia blacksmith, Rush touched virtually every page in the story of the nation’s founding. It was Rush who was responsible for the late-in-life reconciliation between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. This week we speak with the author Stephen Fried about his new book, Rush: Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father.
"We should always listen to science. Science is not political. Science is rational."
— Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson
President Thomas Jefferson answers listener questions this week, including inquiries about Jefferson and wine, Welsh “Indians” in the Dakotas, repairing friendships, and the idea that “the rain followed the plow” during Jefferson’s time.