Rush’s Dream

Adams and Jefferson. Two visions for America. One dream that made history.

After Thomas Jefferson succeeded John Adams to the presidency in 1800, the two statesmen, Founding Fathers and once best friends parted bitterly, their friendship unable to sustain the muckraking journalism and fervent differences of political opinion that had characterized their campaigns. Rush’s Dream is the true story of how, during some of the most remarkable times in American History, their friendship was reinstated as a result of the vivid dreams and persistence of Benjamin Rush, their mutual friend and fellow statesman. The story spans 25 years of American history and is crafted entirely from the eloquent and surreal letters written by John Adams, Benjamin Rush, Thomas Jefferson, and Abigail Adams, letters that reveal their complexity as people and the tenuousness of America’s political beginnings.

Historian Garry Wills will speak after the Sunday, June 20th 3 pm matinee performance. Garry Wills is a distinguished historian and critic and is the author of numerous books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Lincoln at Gettysburg", "Saint Augustine", and "Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power". A regular contributor to the New York Review of Books, he has won many awards, among them two National Book Critics Circle Awards and the 1998 National Medal for the Humanities. He is an adjunct professor of history at Northwestern University.