The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and His Legacy Book

Many have rated this higher and they simply have more patience than I do. I found it overly detailed, tedious. Yet Crawford is not afraid to go into Jefferson's deep flaws and the affair with Sally Hemings. While some biographers are hedging, he makes it clear that Jefferson is definitely the father of at least some of Sally's children. It was sad reading about her life as a slave-Jefferson was kind and while there may have been a romance, she was still his property. While Jefferson was a sensitive soul and had a profound moral sense he still (though he passionately believed it to be immoral) was not willing to free his slaves in his lifetime. Jefferson lived lavishly, could never control his finances and never curb his indulgences. His golden years were spent on the brink of ruin, being broke but living in a mansion. These were depression years and there were no pensions for presidents.

Still, he remains my favorite president. I do not take the current fashion of condemning those dark spots of our American history. Fully learning from it can only happen from listening to both sides--and all sides--of the equations.