Jon Meacham historian, editor, author: "great political leaders--Thomas Jefferson, FDR, Eisenhower, Reagan--were always in tune with the cultural currents of the time.".

• Author: Storey, Tim
• Position: ON RECORD - Interview

Presidential historian Jon

Meacham is a contributing editor to Time magazine and executive editor and executive vice president of Random House. He is the author of "Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush," "Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power" and "American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House," for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009. Meacham is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the board of the Society of American Historians. He regularly appears on TV as a commentator on politics, history and religious faith in America. A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., he studied English literature at The University of the South in nearby Sewanee and holds several honorary doctorates.

What can state legislators learn from Thomas Jefferson?

Jefferson is often seen as a philosopher and architect, some sort of figure above politics in many ways, and in many senses he wanted to be seen that way. But for 40 years, from 1769 until he left the White House in 1809, he was a practicing politician. He sought office, he held office, he pretended he didn't want office--all the themes that continue to unfold in our political life. But he understood that however philosophically attuned he was to the culture and currents of his time, if he were only philosophical, that put him in a different category. He would have less impact. It foreclosed the possibilities to put those ideas into wide action. His ability to amass power, hold on to it, exercise it in a real cut-and-thrust, everyday legislative arena was what made him truly great.

Could Jefferson be elected in today's political landscape?

Well, he was elected then and it was different, but it was a difference I think of degree, not of kind. Remember, Jefferson and Adams ran in the first contested presidential election, in 1776. The negative ads at the time--and they didn't come from a super PAC--gave voters a choice: You could have Adams and God or Jefferson and no God. So those of us who think that either FOX or MSNBC created this are wrong. This has gone on for a long time.

Jefferson's temperament was such that he would have a very hard time with the hyper-criticism of the moment. He would read all the Twitter feeds about himself, and it would drive him crazy.

When you read Jefferson's letters and think about him, he was probably too thin-skinned for his chosen profession. I suspect some of your members may have something in common with that. One of the reasons I...