Giving Thomas Jefferson the Business: The Jefferson-Hemings Hoax

A Different Drummer/Middle American News ^ | December, 2003 | Nicholas Stix

[mrustow]

FYI

[mrustow]

FYI

[mrustow]

Incoming!

[mrustow]

FYI

[mrustow]

Ping!

[mrustow]

Ping!

[mrustow]

Heads up!

[cyborg]

there is no way TJ was involved with Hemmings when he had his pick of the beauties of the French Court

*** Sally Hemmings was not ugly by accounts. She was quite beautiful, and a better choice because she was younger than most courtesans anyway. If there's one thing history has proven is that powerful men have a weakness for beautiful women.

[CommerceComet]

Jefferson's fathership of the Hemmings child cannot be proven nor disproven. To both sides of the argument: stop being so dogmatic on the issue.

Thomas Jefferson was a brilliant man who did much for this country but he was no saint. If it is proven that he was the father of the Hemmings child, it wouldn't affect my opinion of him. In the words of Henry Hyde, we'll just call it a "youthful indescretion."

[CatoRenasci]

You are right that Monticello is a wonderful place to get a sense of Jefferson. I went to VMI, only an hour's drive away, and have visited Monticello many times. It sits beautifully.

Although it is not currently the most fashionable biography, I urge you in the strongest terms to read the Dumas Malone biography of Jefferson. It was written before political correctness. As long as you understand Malone will give Jefferson the benefit of the doubt, you will get a great deal from it, as the scholarship is first-rate and Malone is remarkably fair. Every one of the more recent treatments of Jefferson I have read, from the excreable Fawn Brodie on, has had a real axe to grind, and is hence unreliable.

[centurion316]

well...I think on the basis of the preponderance of the evidence ( The historical standard) it is fairly clear that Jefferson fathered one of more children by Sally Hemmings.

Given the manner in which this issue has been handled by the press, your position is perfectly reasonable. But, the point of this article as well as the report of the Blue Ribbon Commission has been to put forward the view that this conclusion does not meet the generally accepted historical standard.

This effort represents historical activism and should be rejected by the academic community. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to occur. Things of this sort have been all to common among the historical academy, in fact, this little hoax is mild compared to some of the other more egregious examples.

[Doctor Stochastic]

If there's one thing history has proven is that powerful men have a weakness for beautiful women.

And conversely.

Henry Kissinger: Power is the great aphrodisiac.

[petitfour]

Thanks for the recommendation. I will find a copy and read it.

[cyborg]

This would explain why women still think Bill Clinton is attractive!

[CatoRenasci]

I never suggested Hemmings was unattractive, and I'm not sure how you translate 'beauties of the French court' as 'courtesans' in the tradition sense of play-for-pay girls.

What is known, is that at the time Hemmings was in Paris with Jefferson she was an awkward and quite unsophisticated young teenager. While later accounts of her describer her as very pretty, the best contemporary description, that of Abigail Adams, does not. At best, she was a girl with potential. Jefferson was known to enjoy the company of intelligent, sophisticated, pretty women (one things of Abigail Adams - not a lover, but a friend). There is no evidence that he had what we have come to call a 'Pygmalion' complex, a desire to take poor, but pretty women and elevate and educate them. What I was suggesting the evidence shows is that Jefferson had his pick of women whom he would find a far more attractive overall package than Hemmings.

[cyborg]

I misunderstood something you said then my apologies.

What I was suggesting the evidence shows is that Jefferson had his pick of women whom he would find a far more attractive overall package than Hemmings.

*** Wasn't there rumors he DID have french mistress? I will have to look back in the posts but someone else had mentioned it also.

[cyborg]

What did you think of the movie Jefferson in Paris?

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

This is old new. We know today that it was actually Strom Thurmond that fathered Sally Hemmings children. ;-)

[j_tull]

TJ fan bump for later

[CatoRenasci]

Jefferson almost certainly had one or more romatic liaisons while in Paris (remember, this is after his wife died). There were several women whose names were connected with his, how seriously those reports should be taken is unclear, as he was a real social "catch", and too much of a gentleman to either confirm or deny any rumors. Just as Franklin, an earlier envoy to France during the Revolution, was rumored to have many affairs. He undoubtedly had some, but IIRC, one wag said that if Franklin had slept with all the women who claimed to have slept with him, he'd never have slept at all during his time in France.