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dear Prime Minister: There is no reason to concern yourself regarding our very pleasant evening. There was no harm done by either of us, on either side, in any way. I was as drunk as you were, perhaps drunker. No notes were taken, no commitments made, no agreements signed. And the translator has been shot. - Truly, J. V. Stalin

PRESIDENTS
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    Some presidents have delightful senses of humor (Lincoln, JFK, FDR, and Reagan come immediately to mind), while others (e.g., Adams, Carter, Ford, Hoover , et al.) seem to have had none at all. Thomas Jefferson, all of his other magnificent qualities notwithstanding, falls into the latter category. It has been reported that during a hiatus at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1776, Jefferson was discussing agriculture with Benjamin Franklin. One quality these two shared was that they were both interested in everything; one difference between them was that, unlike Jefferson, Franklin had a great sense of humor and could never resist a straight line. Jefferson commented that he had planted cabbages in his vegetable garden at Monticello (of course, he hadn't planted them himself; his slaves did it) and was annoyed that every night rabbits came out and nibbled away at the first row of cabbages. Franklin suggested he could solve the problem by not planting the first row. Jefferson didn't get the joke.
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    Neither Jefferson nor John Adams attended the Constitutional Convention because they were both engaged in diplomatic missions, Adams as ambassador to Britain and Jefferson as ambassador to France . They had become close in Congress during the Revolution, and drew even closer during their European sojourn. (So close, in fact, that the widower Jefferson asked John and Abigail Adams to care for his little daughter Patsy for a time. They readily complied.)
    One famous story, told in numerous variations, refers to a visit Jefferson paid to Adams in London. (After the long voyage from America to Europe, crossing the Channel to go from Paris to London must have seemed a like a canoe ride in the Potomac.) Both men were strolling through Covent Garden on an afternoon when King George III and his entourage were doing the same thing. The king saw them, gazed at them as they bowed deferentially, and then turned his back on them and walked on. Etiquette would have obliged George to acknowledge their presence with at least a polite regal nod, so the turning of his back was a deliberate snub.
    Adams was a volatile fellow, easily offended and sensitive to insults. He grew red in the face at the king's discourtesy and might have said or done something inappropriate had not Jefferson, a phlegmatic man at all times, placed his hand upon Adams' shoulder and said, "Mr. Adams, Mr. Adams, becalm yourself. We won the war, did we not?"
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    The religious beliefs of the Founding Fathers are a topic of great argument of late, and both sides in the argument are wrong. Those who claim that they were all devout Christians are wrong; those who claim they were all Enlightenment skeptics are wrong. Many of the Founders were indeed traditional Christians, such the Congregationalist John Hancock, the Episcopalian Richard Henry Lee, and the Catholic Charles Carroll. Others, like John Adams and Samuel Adams and (possibly) Benjamin Franklin, were Unitarians, i.e., Christians who rejected the idea of the Trinity and the divinity of Christ. Others, like Thomas Jefferson and (again possibly) Benjamin Franklin, were Deists, i.e., men who believed in God as a Creator (and also believed in heaven, hell, and the resurrection), but did not believe that God actively intervened in human affairs.
    The religious beliefs of George Washington are unknown, because he was a reticent man and only spoke when necessary. We know that he prayed at Valley Forge, but we also know that there were no clergy present at his deathbed.
    We also know that he went to church (Episcopalian/Church of England) every Sunday, but did not take