Listening to America

"He was part of the extension of slavery that made the Civil War inevitable, and that led to almost 800,000 deaths." — Clay S. Jenkinson This week President Thomas Jefferson speaks about the political mistakes he made. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more...

"I would have been able to produce an account of that tour — and I mean no self-aggrandizement in saying this, but just from the sheer discipline of writing every day at great length — would have been one of the classics of the literature of exploration." — Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining th...

"You have to wait 14 years under the naturalization law before you can become a full citizen of the United States. These were palpable violations of the Bill of Rights." — Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson We spend this week, as requested, responding to submitted questions and correcting some factual errors pointed out by our listeners. Find this episode, along with recommended reading...

"Voltaire at the end of Candide says, just go home and cultivate your garden." — Clay S. Jenkinson This week, we catch up on our mail bag and also speak with a couple of Thomas Jefferson Hour listeners. We're kind of all over the place on this episode, but we had great fun: Paul McCartney, a documentary on John McCain, audio listener responses to this program — particularly with respect to music,...

"The duty of the President of the United States is to be the principal articulator of America's values." — Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about our Cultural Tours & Retreats with Clay S. Jenkinson at  jef...

"When you die, your legacy is the effect you've had on people, and boy did my mother have an effect on people." — Clay S. Jenkinson Clay Jenkinson speaks this week about the death of his mother, Mil, and discusses Jefferson's thoughts and correspondence about death. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the...

"I made a special devotion to collecting all of the maps that I could." — Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about our Cultural Tours & Retreats with Clay S. Jenkinson at  jeffersonhour.com/tours . Thomas Jef...

"Too Né's data wound up in the journals and all of it is on the map, and the map deepens the journals, and the journals deepen the map." — Clay S. Jenkinson This week on the Thomas Jefferson Hour, we feature an extended conversation about the recently discovered map from the Lewis and Clark Expedition drawn by an Indigenous guide named Too Né. The map was found in the Bibliothèque nationale de Fra...

"It is not a great privilege to name a Supreme Court justice." — Thomas Jefferson, as portrayed by Clay S. Jenkinson Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about our Cultural Tours & Retreats with Clay S. Jenkinson at  jeffersonhour.com/tours . Thomas Jeffer...

"You want people who are moderates, who are not passionate zealots in any particular direction." — Thomas Jefferson, as portrayed by Clay S. Jenkinson Thomas Jefferson shares his thoughts about the workings of the Supreme Court, allows his personal irritations with the court to show, and explains how he feels the court has drifted from its rightful place in America today. Find this episode, along...

"I played a small role. I was just the penman of this thing." — Thomas Jefferson, as portrayed by Clay S. Jenkinson Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about our Cultural Tours & Retreats with Clay S. Jenkinson at  jeffersonhour.com/tours . Thomas Jeffers...

"Mythology begins to creep in, and as historians we like to question some of that." — Clay S. Jenkinson This week on our annual 4th of July show, Thomas Jefferson reads the Declaration of Independence in it's entirety and speaks about one of his favorite holidays. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the T...

This week, we present another of our Jefferson Hour Book Club episodes and discuss Thomas Paine's Common Sense . Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. You can learn more about our Cultural Tours & Retreats with Clay S. Jenkinson at jeffersonhour.com/tours . Thomas Jefferson i...

"The debate in American history is not between Hamilton and Jefferson, the debate is between Adams and Jefferson." — Clay S. Jenkinson This week, we answer listener questions on the Thomas Jefferson Hour, including a letter from a writer who wonders whether the Founding Fathers were geniuses who seized the moment, or simply average people living in extraordinary times. We also speak with our good...

"He's a bit of a Tea Party guy, he's a bit of a libertarian, he's certainly for small government." — Clay S. Jenkinson This week's episode is devoted to answering listener questions, and many of the questions are about the current administration. We anticipate and appreciate comments on the issues discussed during this episode. Thanks for listening. Find this episode, along with recommended readin...

"Lightly governed, lightly taxed, highly educated, isolationist, farmer's paradise." — Clay S. Jenkinson This week, President Thomas Jefferson explains his own vision for America. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by  Clay S. Jenkinson .

"I think that an ideal citizen is a bit grumpy, is always concerned that government is up to no good." — Thomas Jefferson, Second Inaugural Address We begin our conversation with President Thomas Jefferson asking about the actual location of his tombstone. We also discuss truthfulness, free speech, personal freedoms, upholding international agreements, and what Thomas Jefferson thinks about execut...

"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 pu...

"I'm just thinking of your career, here." — Joseph Ellis We continue our conversation this week with the award-winning author Joseph Ellis, and we conclude our discussion about his book First Family: Abigail and John Adams as part of our first entry of the Thomas Jefferson Hour Book Club series. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Learn about Clay's upcoming cultural...

Joining our conversation this week is the award-winning author Joseph Ellis. We discuss his book First Family: Abigail and John Adams in part one of two shows as our first entry for the Thomas Jefferson Hour Book Club series. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Learn about Clay's upcoming cultural tours and humanities retreats by visiting  Odyssey Tours . Support the...

"peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none" — Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1801) This week on the Jefferson Hour, we talk with President Jefferson about his struggles with foreign entanglements, and his disappointment with the American people's reactions to his decisions. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the...

"I would never consider [the Constitution] to be a sacred text." — Thomas Jefferson, as portrayed by Clay S. Jenkinson We present President Thomas Jefferson with a listener question about what the phrase "promote the general welfare," found in the Constitution, actually means. We answer letters from Richard Tucker and Rich Nieves. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . L...

We answer listener questions in response to episode #1277 Gerrymandering , and then turn to a discussion about an important discovery of an 1805 Lewis & Clark related map. It was found after being stored for 200 years in a French archive. The map and its background story appear in this month's issue of We Proceeded On , published by the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation. The letters discusse...

"History is like a picture puzzle and half of the pieces or more are missing. There is something about Jefferson that makes us want to expose contradiction." — Clay S. Jenkinson Our show this week revolves around a question from listener Gino Cukale about the purported relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. We discuss the historical record and look to first-hand accounts in an at...

"That is one of the most fun things that I try to do, reacquaint people with the joyous flavor of the tomato that they crave." — Craig LeHoullier Inspired by a letter from Alison Hagan, we talk with three tomato experts: Craig LeHoullier, author of Epic Tomatoes; Harry J. Klee, Ph. D. from the University of Florida; and Pat Brodowski, Head Gardener at Monticello. They speak about the best-tasting...