In an interview on Progressive America

Your final choice is David McCullough’s biography of John Adams. Thomas Jefferson is usually considered the greater progressive hero, despite his personal failings. What does John Adams have to say to progressives?

I love biographies and this one in particular strikes me. I don’t believe John Adams comes immediately to mind as one of the great presidents, but he was. Students of history know he had a hand in so many of the founding documents we remember today.

Politics today is so polarised – but this division is not unique to our time. If you look back on the relationship between John Adams and Jefferson, it was not always smooth. Yet together they helped make the Declaration of Independence a reality. Progressives should keep their eyes on the prize, but we should never be afraid to constantly engage with those whom we perceive to be rivals.

In some sense, it’s part of what Lincoln taught us, too. Adams was also incredibly courageous when he defended the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre. He was a patriot who understood that a democratic society cannot undermine the basic democratic rights of even the most despised in our society. There are few today who would be willing to do what he did in today’s supercharged partisan environment. I’m not sure anyone would be willing to do that today.