|
|
Article: A historical seesaw: John Adams is ascendant, at Thomas Jefferson's expense.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- July 31, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Summer's biggest dogfight turns out not to be between cats and canines, or apes against less-hirsute primates, but good ol' Thomas Jefferson and John Adams _ or, more specifically, their defenders, battling over which president's reputation is better, bigger. It's the aristocratic Republican vs. the vexatious Federalist in the Founding Fathers Smackdown.
Jefferson has come in for a drubbing recently in several books including Joseph Ellis' Pulitzer Prize-winning "Founding Brothers'' and David McCullough's bestselling "John Adams,'' in which McCullough heartily acknowledges Ellis' earlier work, the "excellent `Passionate Sage,' on Adams in his last years, that ...