Past Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Ronald Reagan - Megyn's History Mega-Episode

Thomas Jefferson articulated the American dream, believing in self-government and the perfectibility of humans. He valued a nation's glory in its literature, sculpture, painting, architecture, and gardening, rather than warfare. He is considered a true Renaissance man, comparable to Leonardo da Vinci, for his extraordinary breadth of knowledge and skills.

He believed that we're up to it that we are equal to the challenge of self-government. He believed that humans are perfectible at least up to a certain degree. He believed that we should leave European habits behind and forge a new extraordinary small r Republican American culture. He believed that the glory of a nation is in its literature, its sculpture, its painting, its architecture, its gardening and not in its warfare or its geopolitical position. He was an isolationist. If there's any figure in our history who is truly a Renaissance man can arguably be put in the same paragraph with someone like Leonardo da Vinci, it's Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson, at 33, drafted the Declaration of Independence without consulting many external texts, drawing instead from his vast personal knowledge. His ability stemmed from years of intense reading (up to 15 hours daily) across seven languages and Enlightenment philosophy, combined with a disciplined, clear, and concise writing style. John Adams, recognizing Jefferson's superior prose, insisted he write it.

He said he consulted neither book nor pamphlet. That may be something of an exaggeration. He was 33. He had spent the first 20-some years of his life reading hard. He says that at some points, he was reading 15 hours per day. He knew seven languages, three ancient and four modern. He read essentially the corpus of Enlightenment texts... And he absorbed all of these. John Adams and Jefferson were placed on this committee. And Adams came to Jefferson... and said, 'You must write this declaration... you write 10 times better than I do.' Jefferson is the best prose stylist of the founders.

Jefferson was born into a slave-owning economy, with his earliest memory involving an enslaved person. Despite philosophical opposition to slavery and attempts to extricate himself, he remained a slave owner throughout his life. This contradiction is central to understanding his legacy.

Jefferson's first memory of all of the memories of his life was being about 2 years old and his father moved their family to another plantation... Jefferson remembers being carried on top of a horse on a pillow by a trusted black slave. He was born into the thick of the slave economy. He valiantly tried to extricate himself at certain points. He was never able to do it.

Jefferson initially did not aspire to high political office, viewing it as a civic duty rather than a career. His tenure as Governor of Virginia during the Revolutionary War was disastrous, marked by British invasions and accusations of cowardice for fleeing Monticello. This experience, however, taught him the necessity of asserting power as president.

He never intended to be part of a revolution and wasn't too happy to be in it, frankly. He was shy and he was thin-skinned. He became governor just at that time the war went went sour and the British invaded the south, invaded Virginia. Jefferson handled it pretty not well, let's say. He learned a lesson. He behaved more like a Hamiltonian as president than at any other time in his life. And he knew that when you have power, you don't duck it.

The 1800 presidential election between Jefferson and John Adams was extremely divisive, characterized by intense political mudslinging and a near constitutional crisis due to an Electoral College tie. Jefferson's victory, which he termed 'America's second revolution,' aimed to restore what he saw as the true principles of the American Revolution against Federalist 'aristocracy and monarchy.'

The 1790s were a depressing crisis decade in America... they're at each other's throats in the cabinet of George Washington... he stands against Adams, loses, becomes his vice president, stands a little bit more willingly in 1800 and wins, but the election was contested because under the rules of the Electoral College at the time, the person with the most number of votes becomes president, and the person with the second most number of votes becomes vice president... This got so intense, took 36 ballots in the House of Representatives... there was talk of civil war.

As president, Jefferson orchestrated the Louisiana Purchase, acquiring 828,000 square miles from Napoleon for $15.6 million. Despite the immense strategic value, Jefferson believed the purchase was technically unconstitutional, as the Constitution did not explicitly grant the federal government power to acquire land. He was persuaded by James Madison to proceed, prioritizing national interest over strict constitutional interpretation.

He's trying to get access to the Mississippi River into New Orleans... Napoleon in the most extraordinary counteroffer in human history, instead of selling Jefferson a town for $6 million, offers to sell the entire Louisiana territory for 15.6 million... Although, he did believe that it was technically unconstitutional. Because the Constitution doesn't grant the federal government the power to buy land. Madison... said, 'Are you nuts? Just do it. You will be committing the greatest crime against the future if you turn this thing down on a constitutional scruple.'

Jefferson deliberately adopted an informal and casual presidential style, greeting visitors in slippers, wearing old clothes, and opening the White House doors himself. This was a conscious effort to differentiate the American republic from European monarchies and aristocracies, setting a tone of humility and equality for the presidency.

He greeted visitors in the White House in slippers. He wore old clothes sometimes that were too small for his... he opened the the doors to the White House himself. He didn't have, you know, valets or servants doing that. When Anthony Merry, this very pompous British minister and his wife... came to dine, Jefferson kept them waiting... And Jefferson said, 'Well my madam, it is pell-mell.' It was Jefferson's attempt to remind all of us that we were a republic with small R. We're not aristocracy. We're not monarchy. There will be no kings.

Strong circumstantial evidence and DNA analysis indicate that Thomas Jefferson fathered children with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman and half-sister to his deceased wife. The relationship reportedly began in Paris, where Hemings could have claimed freedom under French law but returned to Monticello under a bargain that her children would be freed at age 21. This long-term, cross-racial relationship was a 'taboo' secret within the family.

We don't know 100% certainly that he was involved with Sally Hemings. Now, I believe that he was and the circumstantial evidence is huge... The DNA has shown that at least one of Sally Hemings' children was the progeny of a male Jefferson... Sally Hemings at the age of 14 comes to live with Jefferson... And it's thought that the relationship began there... James Hemings and Sally Hemings... discovered that they were free. Jefferson could not own them in France. He said to Sally Hemings, according to her son, 'If you come back, any children that you have... I will free when they're 21 years old.' And he did.

After years of political rivalry and personal estrangement, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams reconciled through a profound correspondence initiated by Benjamin Rush. Over 14 years, they exchanged 144 letters discussing philosophy, religion, and the meaning of the American Revolution, ultimately dying within hours of each other on July 4, 1826—50 years to the day after the Declaration's signing.

They were friends. Then they were enemies... Then they were frenemies... Benjamin Rush... decides he's going to reconcile them... he gets John Adams to write a letter... John Adams, on the first day of January 1812, writes this very... careful letter to Jefferson... And Adams warms up a little, and Jefferson warms up a little and then suddenly the sluice gates of their ancient love and affection open and they exchange 144 letters during the last 14 years of their lives... Adams writes to Jefferson and says... 'My friend, we must not die until we have explained ourselves to each other.' And they did and they died simultaneously as you know on the 4th of July 1826.

Former FBI agent Thomas Baker, one of the first on the scene of the 1981 Reagan assassination attempt, described the immediate response as 'textbook perfect' cooperation between the FBI and Secret Service. This was a direct result of lessons learned from the chaotic and conspiracy-ridden aftermath of the JFK assassination, and a new federal law making presidential assault an FBI jurisdiction.

The minute this happened and I realized what was going on... that Kennedy assassination was very much in the forefront of my mind, and I just said to myself, 'We can't screw this up. We have to handle this right. This is a historic case.'... there was an overwhelming amount of cooperation. A federal law was passed because actually when Kennedy was shot, there was no federal law against shooting, killing, or assaulting the president. So, a new law... was passed that once the president has been assaulted... the investigation falls to the FBI.

John Hinckley Jr.'s motive for attempting to assassinate President Reagan was not political, but rather a delusional obsession with actress Jodie Foster, stemming from his repeated viewings of the film *Taxi Driver*. He sought to commit a 'world historical deed' to impress her, a plan explicitly detailed in a letter found in his hotel room.

He had a statement in the form of a letter to the actress Jodie Foster saying that he was going to do this world historical deed to win her heart. So, there it was, the motive, the whole story laid out for us to find. He was obsessed with this character and obsessed with the young woman Jodie Foster... his motivation was not in any way political. It didn't matter to him whether he shot Carter or shot Reagan. He wanted to do something, but it just never worked out.

Despite being critically wounded with a bullet lodged near his heart, President Reagan maintained remarkable composure and humor, famously joking with doctors. He later expressed forgiveness for John Hinckley Jr., believing his life was spared for a higher purpose, a sentiment reinforced by meetings with Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa.

He famously said to Nancy, 'Honey, I forgot to duck.' He famously said to the surgeon... 'Please tell me you're Republicans.' He said, 'I don't remember anything. I don't remember being shot. I don't remember who shot me.' But then he said he added he said, 'I just made all those jokes on television to make the people feel good about themselves.' He said, 'I added him to my prayers... if I wanted healing for myself, maybe he should have some healing for himself.' He later said that they both both these saints told him that his life was spared for a higher purpose.

John Hinckley Jr.'s 'not guilty by reason of insanity' verdict, based on diagnoses of major depressive disorder and schizophrenia, sparked national outrage. This led to significant reforms in federal and state legal systems regarding the insanity plea, shifting the burden of proof to the defense and limiting its use.

He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity... there was outrage in the country when he was found not guilty by reason of insanity... One of them was a reform of the uh insanity plea. This first was done in within a couple of years in the federal system. The federal insanity rules were changed so that the burden was on the the the defense to show the insanity, where as opposed to being on the government to show the person was not insane.

Former FBI agent Thomas Baker argues that the FBI's current cultural problems stem from a post-9/11 shift, initiated by Director Robert Mueller after a challenging meeting with President George W. Bush. Mueller aimed to transform the FBI into an 'intelligence-driven agency,' moving away from its law enforcement roots. This change, Baker contends, has led to a culture of deception and overreach, eroding public trust and causing recent controversies.

Robert Mueller became the director of the FBI... five days before the September 11th attacks... President George W. Bush said to him, in effect, 'I don't care about that. I just want to know how you're going to stop the next one.' So, Mueller went back and... he became bound and determined to change the culture of the FBI... and to make it into more of an intelligence agency. In an intelligence agency, you deal in guesses, estimates... and you deal in deception and deceit... this change in the FBI's culture is what has allowed these problems that manifest themselves under Director Comey and since then to come about.