The Original Frenemies: Adams and Jefferson

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where it is once again rivalry week with a conversation about the complicated relationship between Founding Fathers John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. The two chief architects and drafters of the Declaration of Independence, and the second and third men to hold the office of the Presidency, Adams and Jefferson’s individual histories are tied at the hip. For all they accomplished together in their early years serving in the Continental Congress, their ideological differences gave way to great political conflict while in office, and a personal impasse post-Presidency that was eventually reconciled via prolonged written correspondence. Those ideological differences and the contrasting lives and legacies of Adams and Jefferson guide much of the discussion. The hosts also examine how their politics and philosophies have come to shape and still influence today’s affairs of state. A political rivalry that perhaps did more than any other to push forward the best interests of country over self, Adams and Jefferson, this week on the Bill Bradley Collective.