This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, August 19th, 2016.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Thomas Jefferson, at least in his own time, was both revered and reviled.

Robert McDonald is author of the new book Confounding Father,

Thomas Jefferson's Image in his own time.

McDonald spoke at Cato University in July.

Jefferson's elections is something that I've actually studied a good bit

because of the book that I've been working on for a while.

Tom mentioned it this morning.

It's called Confounding Father Thomas Jefferson's image in his own time.

And the focus is what people had to say about Thomas Jefferson,

what people perceived about Thomas Jefferson,

between 1776, when I suppose you could say

his national public career began and

1826 when 50 years after the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson

finally died up at Monticello or down at Monticello.

And the sort of short story is some people loved him, other people hated him.

To some he was revered. loved him, other people hated him.

To some, he was revered.

To others, he was reviled.

To John Beckley, who wrote one of the first kind of campaign biographies in American history.

It was a short biography of Thomas Jefferson.

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