Friends and members of The Jefferson Council for the University of Virginia,
79 years ago on June 6, 1944, 156,000 Allied troops from America, Great Britain and Canada stormed the beaches of Normandy. They assaulted the German forces entrenched in pillboxes and surrounding hills who desperately tried to repel our forces with unrelenting machine gun and artillery fire. Despite facing almost suicidal odds, the Allied infantry hit the beaches and charged ahead, sustaining high casualty rates, but ultimately overcoming our Nazi adversaries.
The Jefferson Council is fighting for our following four founding pillars:
- Promote an academic environment based on open dialogue throughout the University.
- Preserve the Jefferson Legacy.
- Preserve the appearance of the Lawn as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and
- Support and reinvigorate the Honor System.
However, make no mistake about it, we also pledge to restore Mr. Jefferson’s University to the core principles he and our Founding Fathers fought to create and the men on the Normandy beaches gave their lives to preserve. The Normandy heroes shown above in their final resting places deserve no less. God bless them all.
We will persevere, as our ancestors did throughout America’s history. The Jefferson Council officers pledge this to you on our honor.
Thank you for your continued support.
Warm regards,
Tom Neale
University of Virginia Class of 1974
President and Co-Founder
The Jefferson Council for the University of Virginia
Cell ph#: 410-804-0417
Thank you. Well said.
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While my father was not in the initial assault, he arrived inNormandy on D-Day +12 and spent almost a year in the front lines in France, Holland and eventually Germany. It was his generation that created the American Dream we continue to share. God bless their memory. They didn’t need sage spaces. Heck what is a safe space when Nazi machine gun fire is all around?
God bless your father and that whole generation. My dad and uncles were part of it too. Imagine what the world would be like if Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo and Hirohito had prevailed.
So far you have done absolutely nothing to preserve Thomas Jefferson’s heritage. You have completely ignored the myths about Sally Hemings, causing widespread contempt for him. You can easily try to get the University or the Law School to analyze the facts in a special course about the myth, facts which have been written about many times, or encourage Heming’s descendants, who have for years refused to submit to DNA tests, to do so. Ignoring this low-hanging fruit makes it seem that you are only interested in attacking the school, rather than help preserve Jefferson’s legacy.
We have not ignored the Sally Hemings controversy. Last year we tried publishing a defense of Jefferson in a full-page ad in the alumni association’s Virginia magazine, but the association rejected the ad and spurned all our efforts to reverse the decision. We then published the ad in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. (That ad got very little response.)
We also have been trying to arrange a debate about the Jefferson legacy with Bob Turner, lead author of the Turner Commission report about Hemings, but have been unable to find someone. The left has won the debate in the minds of the public and has zero willingness to expose its views to close scrutiny, so it is extremely difficult to find someone willing to debate… which by its nature would concede that maybe the left does not have a monopoly on the truth.
We might have identified a prominent African-American Virginian willing to discuss the issue in a public forum, but we still have a lot of spadework to do.
I would invite you to help jump-start our efforts by participating in — or even leading — a Jefferson Legacy Committee. There are others who would join you.
Agree, Jim.
Joseph Sahid, I checked and see you’re not a member. To Jim’s point, join the fight and help us get a debate with retired UVA Professor Bob Turner and a Sally Hemings mythology proponent. We’ve sent copies of his 2001 Scholars Commission to the BOV and President Ryan. They’ve rebuffed it.
We will keep trying. Remember in July 2024 Youngkin appointees will be majority on the BOV. Become a TJC member and help us. To say we have “done absolutely nothing to preserve the Jefferson legacy” is both false and counterproductive.
I have just updated my estate plan and included TJC, completely removing UVA & its affiliates. I encourage others to also include TJC in their estate plans. There is great work being done here, and it is accelerating!
Wahoo’76, that is OUTSTANDING! We cannot thank you enough. Wahoo-wah!!
Wahoo76, please email me your contact data. Jim and I would like to send you a “proper” thank you note. My email:
tom74@comcast.net.
Here’s an excellent article on Professor Turner’s Scholars Commission with a link to the full report: https://www.tjheritage.org/the-scholars-commission.
Let’s all keep calm and carry on in the best tradition of the
greatest generation. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Well said and thank you Mr. Neale. Happy to join and fight for the cause.
Great message Tom. Re Mr. Sahid’s comments, TJC has certainly done quite a bit since its inception. In addition to a variety of speakers, some co-sponsored with The Center for Politics, the Council has definitely gotten the attention of UVa’s Administration and has also brought to the attention of the Governor’s office, the challenges the school faces in demonstrating true intellectual diversity and tolerance of divergent opinions. Actions speak louder than words, and so far, the administration of UVa is long on words, pretty short on action. Keep up the pressure TJC.
Thank you, and trust me, we will.
In reference to the Hemings cudgel, which is a disingenuous tool of the Left to try to disparage Mr. Jefferson – I don’t care if he did father any children with Sally Hemings, even though I think the evidence is almost conclusive that he did not, I have black relatives according to AncestryDNA. How did that happen? Further, with the number of multiracial marriages, are the kids today to be shamed? No. All are created in the image of God, which Jefferson was talking about in the Declaration, which was one of the main ideas leading to the abolition of slavery!
The Left doesn’t care about the truth. We, TJC and concerned alumni and even students who want to “follow the truth,” must DEMAND that Ryan, who “unequivocally” supports free speech (ahem!), sponsor an annual program on the Jefferson/Hemings, and we have offered to have this debate many times. But the lie has been spread so far and wide that we have a lot of work to do. You would be surprised how many people think Jefferson asked for her to be sent to Paris, and think that is proof. The lies have made thier way around the world many times over…