THE PRESIDENCY by HUGH SIDEY: What Would Jefferson Say?

The Presidency

It is a good time to get away from Washington and ask one of the old hands like Thomas Jefferson how the country looks from where he reposes. Jefferson is in style more than ever—the man who suspected bigness, distrusted cities, believed passionately in individuality. Jefferson is not readily available for consultation, of course. But if one cannot talk to him, then Dumas Malone, 86, the pre-eminent biographer, can stand in.

"I feel more at home here than anywhere," said the historian as he went up the hill to Monticello in the sunshine of Indian summer, his white hair ruffled...