#1219 Inauguration, Then & Now
Listening to America
Listening to America
4.6 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 February 2017
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
President Thomas Jefferson is asked to provide context for presidential inaugurations. Clay & David discuss our third president's inaugural address — its content & its tone — while comparing it to the address of our forty-fifth president, Donald Trump.
Find this episode, along with further recommended reading, on the blog.
From "The People's Friend", which was written & composed for the inaugural celebration of March 4th, 1801:
What joyful prospects rise before
Peace, Arts and Science hail our Shore
And through the Country spread
Long may these blessings be preserved
And by a virtuous Land deserved
With Jefferson our head
Read Clay's essay on Donald Trump inaugural address, The Jefferson Watch: The Inauguration.
Listen to this week's 1776 Club broadcast, Forward Motion. Clay: "It's going to be an interesting year, let's put it that way. My goal is the same always: I want the Jefferson Hour to proliferate because I believe that Jefferson is the answer."
"John Steinbeck's California", the spring book retreat & tour with Clay S. Jenkinson, will be held March 4-10, 2017. This retreat is hosted by Odyssey Tours, a div. of Bek, Inc. For more information, visit Odyssey Tours online or contact Becky Cawley: (208) 791-8721 or bek@odytours.net
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It is time, sir, for the podcast intro. |
| 0:03.2 | And before we even go there, people are going to be bombarded with this, but we don't |
| 0:10.0 | want anybody to miss it. |
| 0:12.0 | You've done cultural tours as a humanity scholar for what |
| 0:16.1 | about 85 years now? I've done 15 years I've gone up the Wendover Death March |
| 0:22.1 | at least a dozen times. |
| 0:24.0 | And you've done one at Lewis and Clark, you've done book retreats on Walden, Native American |
| 0:31.6 | issues. You just came back from one at Locks a Lodge. |
| 0:35.0 | Five days in the most beautiful place in the bitter environment. |
| 0:39.0 | Really what it is is a chance for people to become Jeffersonian for a period of four or five days. |
| 0:46.6 | To live deliberately, as Thoreau put it. |
| 0:48.6 | And hang out with you. |
| 0:50.1 | Well that too. |
| 0:51.1 | And get your take on things, but how many of us just die for good conversation? |
| 0:56.8 | Oh boy, was this good? |
| 0:58.0 | And people, as I always tell you, said, where's Swenson? |
| 1:01.0 | Can't you bring him? |
| 1:02.0 | We need him. We want to meet him. |
| 1:02.6 | Who is this guy? Does he exist? And you know, you're almost like the barn now, you're like |
| 1:06.8 | mythic. Yeah, you told him I've lost my legs and gone blind. |
| 1:10.0 | I said after he was hit by that bread truck. |
| 1:14.0 | There you go. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Listening to America, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Listening to America and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.