President John Adams
Life Portrait of John Adams (1999) One of the C-Span series on 41 American Presidents. Fascinating insights into the substance and soul of the extended Adams family, physically broadcast from the Adams’ extensive personal library in Quincy (Braintree). David McCullough’s responses to questions by C-Span’s host and from listeners have obliged me to modify my historical opinion of our second president, who often has been given short shrift between presidents Washington and Jefferson. Adams’ integrity, scholarship, remarkable role in obtaining affirmation for the Declaration of Independence, and authorship of the Massachusetts Constitution (longest operative constitution and, in many segments, Baedeker for the U.S. Constitution) render him high in the pantheon of great Americans. Also, Abigail would have made an awesome president. McCullough’s John Adams won David another Pulitzer.
