Thomas Jefferson, a Personal View by Alan Alda

In 1995, Alan Alda was the featured speaker at a special dinner on Monticello's West Lawn. Fresh from a filming trip to China for PBS's Scientific American Frontiers, the award-winning actor related his efforts to look for "clues into [Jefferson's] character" and made connections between efforts by a Chinese scientist to produce a high-yield strain of rice and Jefferson's commitment to the sciences and freedom of thought. (Added to Monticello Podcasts on Jan. 28, 2010. Approx. 22 min. )