No Class October 2 and October 9

In April 1962, President John Kennedy welcomed American Nobel Prize winners to the White House with the following observation: “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

Thomas Jefferson was one of the most consequential politicians in American history. Every school child knows that Jefferson authored the Declaration of Independence. But he was so much more: he was our third President; he was a scientist, an inventor, a theologian, and an architect of renown (having designed the only private residence that appears on U.S. currency); and he was the founder of an innovative world-class university.

Thomas Jefferson’s interests were broad and deep; his accomplishments, many. He was the consummate Renaissance man. But Jefferson was also a human being, flawed like the rest of us. Was he a hypocrite? Was he, as some have alleged, a racist? Was he a philanderer? And why has Thomas Jefferson prompted one of the nastiest “food fights” that academia has ever seen? Over six weeks, we will explore these and other facets of the life and times of Thomas Jefferson.