The writer of the story was a historian, and very few liberties were taken with history (save for the timing of the debate)

Oh, and I got the actor’s name screwed up. William Daniels played John Adams. (He played Dr. Craig on St. Elsewhere, which is how I got the names jumbled up)

It was originally on broadway, then in 1972, the movie was made. It’s available on DVD.

The broadway cast recording is available on CD and download at Amazon (not on iTunes). Whenever I find myself driving around on the 4th of July, I play that album loudly in the car with the windows open, becoming my own one car parade.

One flaw with the album is that the actor who originally was playing Ben Franklin on Broadway and in the film was unable to attend the recording session due to health reasons and his understudy was used instead. He’s not bad, but having seen the film, it’s just not the same.

The Adams Memorial is a proposed United States presidential memorial to honor Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams as well as Abigail Adams and other members of the Adams family.

John Adams
John Quincy AdamsOn November 5, 2001, the United States Congress created the Adams Memorial Foundation under Pub.L. 107-62. The foundation is authorized to construct a memorial on federal land in Washington, D.C. at no expense to the government. Once established the memorial would presumably fall under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.

Also check out this site for article about it’s progress
http://www.coxwashington.com/news/content/reporters/stories/2007/05/24/BC_ADAMS_MEMORIAL24_COX.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=0

Adams’s Presidency was an extraordinary circumstance that will very likely never be repeated in the sense that he was essentially a lone individual fighting off opposition from a party he did not belong to which filled his cabinet and a Vice President who was his most energetic opponent. War with France was a real possibility and French nationals were in the cities of America recruiting soldiers for their cause and whipping up the populace. The purpose of the Alien and Sedition Acts was to put a stop to spies and rabble rousers who threatened the nation at the expense of its domestic peace and the integrity of its government. Note that I am not arguing the correctness of either of these acts, only that the motivation for them was a genuine concern for national security. I would equate the Alien and Sedition acts with FDR’s Japanese internment camps rather than things like smoking and seat belt laws. There are huge differences of intent.

The nanny state is motivated by the belief that a certain group knows how everyone ought to behave in the minutiae of their lives, and they’ll criminalize anyone who doesn’t comply. The Sedition Act didn’t aim to control the day-to-day actions of individuals, rather it aimed to stem internal threats to a fledgling nation on the brink of a war that certainly would have put a swift end to the new republic.

Greg:
The same could be said of Ben Franklin. He also was active during the period of the revolution and before the Federal government became active, except Franklin died very shortly after Washington took office, whereas Adams was our first Vice President and obviously continued to the Presidency. Franklin, for his contributions to American society and the revolution, is honored more conspicuously today with the one hundred dollar bill, and Adams, whose contributions must surely be considered at least equal to Franklin’s, is honored with nothing.

Adams’s Presidency on it’s face may not have been up to par with the two men who bracketed him, but Adams has to be given credit for keeping America out of a war that most certainly would have wrecked the infant nation before it had a chance to grow while himself facing circumstances that are wholly unique. Because of the way the Vice Presidency was awarded at the time, Adams had his most fervent opponent, VP Thomas Jefferson, working against him from the very center of his own administration, a circumstance no President before or since has had to deal with. Adams was caught between that opposition and the machinations of Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist party, which he did not consider himself a part of, to contend with. He was a man alone in the office, surrounded by antagonists at all sides, with the single intention of avoiding a war that would destroy the country. His conduct and accomplishments as President were outstanding when the entire picture is known. Combined with the man’s contributions during the revolutionary period, as you’ve acknowledged, I’d say he’s as deserving of recognition as any founding father.

I love Giamatti, but it’s going to take a bit to unseat Daniel Craig as my mental image of Adams. (Craig played Adams in ‘1776′)