Listening to America

"Few people grow in office; few people grow in life. Roosevelt grew in life. He became more interesting, more sensitive, more thoughtful ... [Roosevelt] became more enlightened as time went on." — Clay S. Jenkinson Prompted by a listener request, and recognizing the 100th anniversary Theodore Roosevelt's death, this week Clay Jenkinson discusses the differences, and a few similarities, between Roo...

"There must be a better way for the political factions of your time to sort out their differences." — 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  jefferso...

January 1st was an important day to Thomas Jefferson for many reasons. This week, we speak with President Jefferson about notable New Year's Day occurrences during his life, including his wedding, his famous "wall of separation between church and state" letter to the Danbury Baptists, and the beginning of his famous correspondence with John Adams during the last years of their lives. We also tell...

"It's going to be a pivotal year in American history." - Clay S. Jenkinson We look forward to 2019 and discuss some of the episode topics that have been suggested to us by the Fans of the Thomas Jefferson Hour group on Facebook. 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 l...

"I really loved the year 2018, but I'm even more looking forward to the year 2019." — Clay S. Jenkinson We look back at 2018 and wish everyone a happy New Year. This episode is our chance to revisit all of the great conversations we've had about Jefferson in 2018. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  1776 Club  or by  donating  to the T...

"I believe so strongly that Jefferson was right about separation of church and state."  — Clay S. Jenkinson   We wish all a Merry Christmas from The Thomas Jefferson Hour, which, as it turns out, is perhaps more than Thomas Jefferson would have done. Jefferson was not a believer in celebrating Christmas in a traditional fashion and felt it should not be a national holiday.   This episode features...

"We couldn't allow a French national to be here, stirring up anti-administration feeling in this country, or fitting out privateers in our wars." — 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...

"Jefferson yielded to Madison's stronger concern. He needed him and he trusted him." — Clay S. Jenkinson Clay and David discuss a number of letters between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison that reveal their working relationship, their friendship, and how Madison protected Jefferson politically. Find this episode, along with recommended reading,  on the blog . Support the show by joining the  177...

"You can have all the information in the world, but it doesn't mean anything unless you have a mental matrix with which to absorb it, evaluate it, analyze it, begin to synthesize it. That's why we go to college." — 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 Thoma...

"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. Madison was the de facto father of the American Constitution. We look at his preparation, his advocacy of the Virginia Plan, and...

"Mr. Madison made me look like a slacker.""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. Together, Jefferson and Madison made it possible for the Virginians to rule this country for 24 years at the beginning of the 19th century. It's a great example of two very different m...

"All the rooms are octagonal or semi-octagonal, except the main dining room, which is a perfect cube." — 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  jeffe...

"Whatever your politics are, to think that the country is being taken seriously by young men and women who want us to be a Jeffersonian republic is just such a gratifying thing to me." — Clay S. Jenkinson We greet a special visitor, our friend Beau Wright. Beau traveled from Lynchburg, Virginia to join us at the studio for a fruitful and interesting conversation about American ideals. Beau is a 3r...

We wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving from the Thomas Jefferson Hour. This week, we speak to four friends including Lisa Suhay, who tells us about her new book America the Grateful; Pat Brodowski, the head gardener at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello; luthier Kevin Muiderman, who gives us an update on the ukulele he is building for Clay; and Nashville-based songwriter Brad Crisler, who tells us about...

"You have a population of 330 million. This is a way that the whole system is designed to distill their will." — Clay S. Jenkinson The results of the 2018 midterm elections are what we try to sort out this week: what it means, what it implies, and how it fits into Jefferson's view of the United States. Jefferson said it is necessary to give, as well as take, in a government like ours, and we wonde...

"We need to protest firmly without any ambiguity whatsoever." — 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 Jefferson...

"This is a French school of economics and social thinking that I subscribed to, at least in part, that says that wealth comes from the soil" — Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson President Jefferson answers listener questions about Jefferson as a guide for our troubled times, Jefferson's views on slavery, and his thoughts on J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur's Letters from an American Farm...

"Everyone in that public place would know which candidate he voted for." — 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 Je...

"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. In December of 1777, the American Continental Army struggled to survive the coming winter. Valley Forge tells the story of how this ar...

"I would hope the states would handle that and the government of the United States would only serve as a referee." — 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. Jenkins...

"Our technology that has unleashed such creativity has also unleashed the capacity for us to destroy the very things that we were creating." — Char Miller Clay and David speak with Char Miller, one of the three authors of the 3rd edition of Ogallala: Water for a Dry Land. Char Miller is Director of Environmental Analysis, and W.M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis and History at Pomona Coll...

"If you study this, you'll know what can go wrong, and maybe you'll be able to prevent it" — 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...

"Indeed, if I read the founders right, their greatest legacy is the recognition that argument itself is the answer." — Joseph J. Ellis We welcome back Professor Joseph Ellis — the eminent historian, author and friend of the Jefferson Hour — to speak about his new book, American Dialogue: The Founders and Us , which is out now. No historian of the early national period of American life has done mor...

"I realized that this was so deeply rooted in the American social, economic, and political life, that it was going to take an extraordinary movement to rid ourselves of slavery." — 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 lea...

"You think I'm joking, but I wanted a square America." — Clay S. Jenkinson portraying Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson goes on the road this week to Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. The performance was taped live at the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts on September 15, 2018 in front of an audience of over 500 people. The event was hosted by Dustin Treiber, the program director...