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July 1, 2021 - Dennis Prager Show
05:05
Who Was John Adams?
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I've been discussing with you the National Anthem and how it is not racist in the PragerU video.
It's a perfect segue into my guest, Brad Thompson, who's a professor of political science at Clemson University.
The latest PragerU video was on John Adams.
It's a good example of just learning.
You know, a great many of our videos, like the National Anthem, it is not political.
It's just pure.
Education, even the political or pure education.
Anyway, it's called John Adams, American Founder and Second President.
By the way, Brad Thompson, I just want to tell you, you do a great job presenting your video.
And I don't say that to everybody.
I mean, we're proud of every video, but you're...
You're a good-looking man.
I know it's the last thing you expected me to tell you.
And you've come across great.
I just wanted you to know that.
Well, thank you very much.
It was great fun and a great honor to do.
So how do you know so much about John Adams?
Well, I actually wrote a doctoral dissertation on John Adams at Brown University, and my first book, John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty, is the culmination of many years of research.
Oh, fascinating.
Do you teach American history at Clemson?
Oh, fascinating.
Now, what is the story at Clemson politically?
Well, I think Clemson is one of the few sane universities left in the United States.
So the woke social justice warrior crowd really doesn't have a significant presence at the university.
The university is, I think, still...
A university that's dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and truth.
And so relative to most other universities, it's, I think, one of the very best institutions of higher learning in the country.
God, another reason to move to South Carolina.
Indeed.
And I'm a big fan of your state as it happens.
How do you explain it?
Why is Clemson an outlier?
Well, I think it all begins with the student body.
I mean, I think the student body at Clemson University, which is an international student body and lots of students from around the country, but the majority of students, or close to a majority, would be from South Carolina.
And the way of life here is still dedicated to traditional manners and mores.
And certainly where we are, I would say that most South Carolinians are proud Americans and very proud of America's heritage and tradition.
Wow.
There you go.
That's what I suspected.
Yeah.
And I should also add, by the way, that the university administration at Clemson University is also...
dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and truth.
And I run an institute at the university called the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism.
And you can imagine how that would go over at most universities.
But Clemson may be the only university in America that would not only tolerate, but actually give us a great deal of moral support.
So, you know, I pinch myself every day when I drive into work.
Thinking that I teach at one of the few remaining universities in the United States that is still an intellectually serious place.
It's good to know.
I'm very happy I asked you about that.
So I'm curious about John Adams.
Ironically, I just finished last year a gigantic book, a biography on John Quincy Adams, his son.
Obviously, there's a lot of reference to John Adams in there.
How did John Adams get along with George Washington?
I think there was a great deal of mutual respect between Adams and Jefferson.
You mean Adams and Washington?
Oh, I'm sorry.
Adams, yes.
Adams and Washington.
In many ways, I think my position is that John Adams was...
America's greatest founding father, and this is a demonstrable fact.
Wow, hold on with me.
That's a big deal because I venerate the founders.
That's the latest video.
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