The Thomas Jefferson Hour

"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 executive privilege and our current government. 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 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. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

“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 tours and humanities retreats by visiting Odyssey Tours. 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.

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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

"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 blog. Learn about Clay's upcoming cultural tours and humanities retreats by visiting Odyssey Tours. 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 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. Learn about Clay's upcoming cultural tours and humanities retreats by visiting Odyssey Tours. 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.

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 discussed are from Stephen Mishkin, Joe Lovell, Kellen DeAlba, James Kenyon, and Sidney Sjoquist. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

"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 attempt to answer this question. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

"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 tomatoes, how to grow them, where to get seeds, why commercial varieties have lost their flavor, and how Jefferson is connected to all this. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

"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. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

"I believe that we have the right to revolution." — Thomas Jefferson, as portrayed by Clay S. Jenkinson President Jefferson answers listener questions about his relationship with John Adams, replacing the Constitution once every generation, bees at Monticello, and the Second Amendment. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

"You could redistrict so that you could maximize competitiveness. That would be my suggestion: maximize competitiveness." — Clay S. Jenkinson On this week’s Thomas Jefferson Hour, we discuss gerrymandering, its origin, how it works in American politics today, and the potential effects it has on our democracy. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

"I feel an Awe upon my Mind, which is not easily described." — John Adams Clay and David discuss the book Revolutionary Summer: The Birth of American Independence, referred to as "a distinctive portrait of the crescendo moment in American history from the Pulitzer-winning American historian, Joseph Ellis." The book chronicles the events of the summer of 1776 as America’s war for independence began, and how America was nearly defeated by the British. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

"There's a perfect alignment between Jefferson's own contradictions and the rest of American history." — Joseph J. Ellis Clay speaks with Dr. Joseph J. Ellis, author of more than ten books, including American Sphinx, Passionate Sage, and Revolutionary Summer. His forthcoming book is American Dialogue: The Founders and Us. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

"You cannot understand the founding of this country without understanding the Founding Fathers’ obsession with classical languages and literature." — Clay S. Jenkinson Guest host Catherine Jenkinson has an extended conversation with President Jefferson about the classics, and Jefferson’s understanding and support of the classics. Find this episode on the blog, along with 15 Greek and Latin Classics recommended by Clay and Catherine. Learn about Clay's upcoming cultural tours and humanities retreats by visiting Odyssey Tours. 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'm just thrilled to see that people can still have intelligent and thoughtful conversations and walk away still feeling friends." — Rick Kennerly We speak with three friends of the Jefferson Hour this week: Rick Kennerly, who talks tomatoes and why they don’t taste as good as they used to, Pat Brodowski, Head Gardener at Monticello who speaks about the gardens and upcoming events at Monticello, and Beau Wright, Director of Operations at Protect Democracy. In this week's podcast intro, we discuss Keeping All the Pieces, the new documentary film from Badlands Conservation Alliance, produced with David Swenson at Makoche Studios. You can watch the film in its entirety at BadlandsConservationAlliance.org. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

Catherine Jenkinson returns as host this week for an extended conversation with President Jefferson about Sir Walter Raleigh. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

We speak with President Jefferson about current events including the government shutdown, philanthropy, and water shortages in Cape Town. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.

"It really upsets me that Jefferson should be anti-canine, but there you are." — Clay S. Jenkinson This week, we answer listener questions about Jefferson’s personality traits, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, the State of Jefferson, the Hamilton Soundtrack, fashion during Jefferson’s time, touring Monticello, and Jefferson’s distaste for dogs. 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 show by joining the 1776 Club or by donating to the Thomas Jefferson Hour, Inc. Thomas Jefferson is interpreted by Clay S. Jenkinson.