Rewriting History to Match our Sins

The recent furor over possible DNA matches between Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings have proven to be inconclusive. The author of the original study, Dr. Eugene Foster, agrees, and rejects commentaries that compare the sexual indiscretions of Clinton with the conduct of Jefferson.

But such is the undercurrent of political and historic engineering to reduce the office of presidency to the lowest common denominator. When Nixon left office, historians didn’t come forward and say, Oh who cares, all presidents have lied, what’s the big deal.

There was not a move by the Republican party to disparage the reputations and memories of great men in the past to cover the indiscretions and failings of those holding office. If we discovered that a president was a murderer or a pedofile or a drug addict would the conclusion be that all presidents behaved in a similar manner?

This is a petty attempt to try and diffuse the concern over the actions of one, while destroying the character of others. This only reminds us that great men of honor and integrity have held that office and they should be the standard we aspire to today.