John Adams: The Most Influential Yet Overlooked Founding Father?

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 10 July 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

John Adams is arguably America’s most underrated Founding Father. He has no currency that bears his image. No national holidays celebrate his birth. He’s nearly never named as anyone’s favorite president. And he has no dedicated memorial in Washington, D.C.

Despite this, he was perhaps the most influential early American, rivaling Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin. Adams was a key advocate for American independence, nominating Washington as commander of the Continental Army and helping draft the Declaration of Independence. As president, he averted war with France through the Convention of 1800, prioritizing peace despite political backlash. He also defended British soldiers in the Boston Massacre trial, showcasing his commitment to justice, and laid the foundation for the U.S. Navy by establishing the Department of the Navy in 1798.

How can this be remedied? Today’s guest, Jackie Cushman, is the Chair of the Adams Memorial Commission, created by Congress to establish a Washington, DC memorial to John Adams and his family. She seeks to commemorate the lives of him and his descendants, as the original philosopher-statesmen of America.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Scott here with another episode of the History and Plug podcast.
0:08.0	John Adams is arguably the least celebrated founding father. Yeah, he has a great HBO miniseries
0:13.0	about him with Paul Giamatti, but there's a lot that he doesn't have compared to other founding
0:16.9	fathers. No money features him. No holiday commemorates his birth. There are very few statues
0:21.5	of him compared to Jefferson or Washington. And he's consistently ranked at the top of best
0:25.7	president polls by presidential historians, but almost nobody will call him their favorite.
0:30.3	It's surprising considering how big his influence was. He was an architect of American independence,
0:34.7	playing a key role in drafting the Declaration, with his legal expertise,
0:37.9	he was called the Atlas of Independence.
0:39.9	As the second president,
0:41.1	he prevented the infant nation's collapse
0:42.9	by preventing the undeclared quasi-war with France
0:45.6	from turning into a full-scale war
0:47.2	destroying the United States in its first decade.
0:49.6	He's the founding father of the U.S. Navy,
0:51.6	playing the groundwork for the U.S. Navy's future strength, and it was his vision that secured the nation's idea of justice for all, going back to at least
0:57.5	1770 when he defended British soldiers in the Boston Massacre trial. So what do we do
1:01.9	to bridge this gap between his accomplishments and his recognition? According to today's
1:05.8	guest, Jackie Cushman, chair of the Abyss Memorial Commission, he deserves a memorial in Washington, D.C., for himself and his family.
1:12.6	Today's episode, we're going to look at all of his accomplishments, along with those of his wife, Abigail,
1:16.7	his son and fellow president John Quincy Adams, and along with all their descendants, who served in a public office well into the 20th century,
1:23.7	the parts of Adam's life that this memorial will commemorate, and what his legacy means today.
	...

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