People are always telling me they want to write a book, that they just need to sit down and write it out. All I can say to that is, godspeed.
#1287 The Hardest Job
"I don't think that it's very useful to compare the burden of the presidency of 1803 … with the burden of the presidency in your time."
— Thomas Jefferson, as portrayed by Clay S. Jenkinson
We talk with President Jefferson about an article written by John Dickerson of CBS regarding how difficult the office of the president has become. The article is titled "The Hardest Job in the World" and was published in this month's Atlantic magazine.
#1279 The Art of the Letter
"Every letter has a basis and a purpose … I spent an enormous amount of time thinking about the recipient."
— Thomas Jefferson, as portrayed by Clay S. Jenkinson
We speak this week with President Jefferson about the art of letter writing. Prompted by a letter from a listener, Jefferson shares his insights on the process. The exact number of letters Jefferson wrote is not known, but it is safe to say he wrote in excess of 20,000.
An Infinite Capacity for Taking Pains
#1184 Jefferson 110
This week, in the continuing series of Jefferson biographical shows about President Thomas Jefferson, Clay and David present part two of a discussion about Jefferson’s book, Notes on the State of Virginia, and how some of the things he wrote came back to haunt him politically.
More from the Thomas Jefferson Hour
#1183 Jefferson 109
In the continuing series of Jefferson biographical shows about President Thomas Jefferson, Clay S. Jenkinson and David Swenson present part one of a discussion about Jefferson’s published work, “Notes on the State of Virginia”, often called the greatest book written in America before 1800. In this episode, Jefferson’s positions on race are discussed at length.
Jefferson 101 is a series of biographical shows about the life of Thomas Jefferson that ran from 2016 to 2017.
Jefferson was a pragmatic utopian, and a utopian pragmatist.
I’m a devoted American patriot. I love this country, but I want it to be more like the country I love than the disillusioned, vulgar, and divisive place it has become.
"Two seraphs await me long shrouded in death; I will bear them your love on my last parting breath."
— Thomas Jefferson, July 1826
We conclude our Jefferson 101 biographical series by discussing his final days at Monticello, his legacy, and the deaths of both Jefferson and John Adams on July 4th, 1826 — the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.