Dennis Prager Show - Who Was John Adams?
Aired: 2021-07-01
Duration: 05:05


=== John Adams: American Founder (05:05) ===

[00:00:00]  I've been discussing with you the National Anthem and how it is not racist in the PragerU video.
[00:00:05]  It's a perfect segue into my guest, Brad Thompson, who's a professor of political science at Clemson University.
[00:00:14]  The latest PragerU video was on John Adams.
[00:00:17]  It's a good example of just learning.
[00:00:21]  You know, a great many of our videos, like the National Anthem, it is not political.
[00:00:26]  It's just pure.
[00:00:28]  Education, even the political or pure education.
[00:00:32]  Anyway, it's called John Adams, American Founder and Second President.
[00:00:38]  By the way, Brad Thompson, I just want to tell you, you do a great job presenting your video.
[00:00:47]  And I don't say that to everybody.
[00:00:50]  I mean, we're proud of every video, but you're...
[00:00:56]  You're a good-looking man.
[00:00:57]  I know it's the last thing you expected me to tell you.
[00:01:00]  And you've come across great.
[00:01:03]  I just wanted you to know that.
[00:01:05]  Well, thank you very much.
[00:01:06]  It was great fun and a great honor to do.
[00:01:10]  So how do you know so much about John Adams?
[00:01:15]  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.
[00:01:29]  Oh, fascinating.
[00:01:31]  Do you teach American history at Clemson?
[00:01:38]  Oh, fascinating.
[00:01:45]  Now, what is the story at Clemson politically?
[00:01:51]  Well, I think Clemson is one of the few sane universities left in the United States.
[00:01:57]  So the woke social justice warrior crowd really doesn't have a significant presence at the university.
[00:02:06]  The university is, I think, still...
[00:02:10]  A university that's dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and truth.
[00:02:15]  And so relative to most other universities, it's, I think, one of the very best institutions of higher learning in the country.
[00:02:23]  God, another reason to move to South Carolina.
[00:02:27]  Indeed.
[00:02:28]  And I'm a big fan of your state as it happens.
[00:02:32]  How do you explain it?
[00:02:34]  Why is Clemson an outlier?
[00:02:38]  Well, I think it all begins with the student body.
[00:02:42]  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.
[00:02:55]  And the way of life here is still dedicated to traditional manners and mores.
[00:03:02]  And certainly where we are, I would say that most South Carolinians are proud Americans and very proud of America's heritage and tradition.
[00:03:17]  Wow.
[00:03:18]  There you go.
[00:03:19]  That's what I suspected.
[00:03:20]  Yeah.
[00:03:21]  And I should also add, by the way, that the university administration at Clemson University is also...
[00:03:30]  dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and truth.
[00:03:33]  And I run an institute at the university called the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism.
[00:03:39]  And you can imagine how that would go over at most universities.
[00:03:43]  But Clemson may be the only university in America that would not only tolerate, but actually give us a great deal of moral support.
[00:03:54]  So, you know, I pinch myself every day when I drive into work.
[00:03:59]  Thinking that I teach at one of the few remaining universities in the United States that is still an intellectually serious place.
[00:04:09]  It's good to know.
[00:04:10]  I'm very happy I asked you about that.
[00:04:13]  So I'm curious about John Adams.
[00:04:16]  Ironically, I just finished last year a gigantic book, a biography on John Quincy Adams, his son.
[00:04:28]  Obviously, there's a lot of reference to John Adams in there.
[00:04:31]  How did John Adams get along with George Washington?
[00:04:37]  I think there was a great deal of mutual respect between Adams and Jefferson.
[00:04:43]  You mean Adams and Washington?
[00:04:46]  Oh, I'm sorry.
[00:04:47]  Adams, yes.
[00:04:48]  Adams and Washington.
[00:04:49]  In many ways, I think my position is that John Adams was...
[00:04:55]  America's greatest founding father, and this is a demonstrable fact.
[00:04:59]  Wow, hold on with me.
[00:05:01]  That's a big deal because I venerate the founders.
[00:05:04]  That's the latest video.