The Correspondence between President Thomas Jefferson and Senator Elijah Boardman (of New Milford) and its Relevance to Today’s Middle East Debates

The legendary lawyer, professor, and public intellectual Alan Dershowitz will discuss the interrelated themes of two of his (more than 50) books, one with special resonance for New Milford, and the other with special resonance for the ongoing Middle East conflict. 

The 2008 book, Finding Jefferson:  A Lost Letter, A Remarkable Discovery, and the First Amendment in an Age of Terrorism, discusses a long-lost letter from Thomas Jefferson to New Milford’s own Elijah Boardman, of a founding New Milford family.  Written on July 3, 1801, the letter contains Jefferson’s only published discussion of a key free speech issue that is especially relevant now:  when the government may restrict speech for fear that it could lead to terrorism.  Alan Dershowitz, who is a passionate collector of historical memorabilia and a passionate Jefferson scholar, acquired the letter from a New York bookstore in 2006, prompting him to write this book.  The Jefferson letter has special significance for New Milford not only because its addressee was Elijah Boardman, but also because its subject was a famous sermon that had been delivered in 1800 by the Reverend Stanley Griswold, the pastor of New Milford’s First Congregational Church, and later a U.S. Senator from Ohio. 

The 2024 book, The Ten Big Anti-Israel Lies and How to Refute Them with Truth, carries forward the themes of how best to protect both free speech and safety to today’s fierce debates about the Middle East, presenting Professor Dershowitz’s views about how these debates have gone wrong.  

In the spirit of Jefferson’s disagreements with his New Milford correspondents, Professor Dershowitz welcomes a lively discussion.