John Quincy Adams and Slavery with Jeffrey A. Denman

This week on Security Dilemma, we're taking an episode to explore the history of the namesake for The John Quincy Adams Society with a historian who has a new book out on the subject. John Allen Gay has a conversation with Jeffrey A. Denman about his new book - John Quincy Adams, Reluctant Abolitionist. The words of John Quincy Adams have inspired foreign policy thinkers for generations, and they continue to inspire today. Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will [America’s] heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own." - John Quincy Adams, 1821 But how did the sixth president, one of the most vocal American antebellum political figures opposing both slavery and foreign intervention abroad, actually think about slavery? We explore that question today. You can order the book here.

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U.S. foreign policy for the future. Security Dilemma brings you conversations with the experts, policymakers, and thinkers charting new paths forward from the wreckage of recent decades and toward a national security and defense policy guided by prudence and restraint. Cohosts John Allen Gay and AJ Manuzzi bring you the information you need to shape a wiser approach. Security Dilemma is a podcast of the John Quincy Adams Society, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing a new generation of foreign policy leaders.