Aspen Lecture: Thomas Jefferson Then and Now – The Legacy and Lessons of an American Original

Instead of feeling morally superior in retrospect, we should address the cares and concerns of our own time in real time

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Aspen Lecture: Thomas Jefferson Then and Now – The Legacy and Lessons of an American Original 56m 8s

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Aspen Lecture: Thomas Jefferson Then and Now – The Legacy and Lessons of an American Original

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The author of the No. 1 New York Times bestseller "Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power" explores Jefferson's complicated legacy and suggests how we might reclaim the Jeffersonian insistence that political leaders be conversant with the philosophical and cultural currents of their time. (Book signing to follow.)

2015 Festival
USA

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History is not merely the story of the past, but the unfolding of the present... Whether we like it or not, we're all part of a broader fabric. And as Lincoln was to say decades after Jefferson, ‘we cannot escape history, for history is what we make of our time here.

Jon Meacham