EP. 03 Thomas Jefferson
Uncancelled History
00:00
Jefferson and Sally Hemings
Nature magazine published an article in 1998 which popularized this newly developing evidence. They just jumped to the conclusion that this was Jefferson, and there was a full-scale academic press. Net Gordon Reed, who is now at Harvard, led this charge. She speculated that it could have been a love relationship between the two of them. And she gave it a kind of Oprah-esque, modern, romantic twist. This is a long-standing relationship that they had had. All this was going on at the same time that the Monica Lewinsky business was coming to light. It was convenient for Democrats at the time who wanted to excuse Bill Clinton.
Transcript
Play full episode
