(7 Jan 1999) English/Nat
The controversy over President Thomas Jefferson's sex life is almost as old as the country he was instrumental in creating.
After nearly 200 years of debate, evidence, and now D-N-A testing, the controversy over whether Jefferson fathered a child by slave Sally Hemings, still isn't settled.
In an effort to put the controversy over Thomas Jefferson's life to rest scientists tracked down descendants of both the Jefferson and Hemings families.
Members of both families underwent D-N-A testing.
In a study published in the journal Nature, they reported a match in chromosomes that pass mostly unchanged from father to son.
On Wednesday critics of D-N-A testing launched a new attack on evidence that Jefferson fathered a slave's child.
In 1802, a year after becoming president, Jefferson was accused publicly of fathering several children by slave Sally Hemings.
Willard Randall, a Jefferson historian, and other critics say the evidence is far from conclusive.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Jefferson is being depicted variously as a rapist, a hypocrite, and a dirty old man."
SUPER CAPTION: Willard Randall/Historian and author "Thomas Jefferson: A Life
The question of whether Jefferson fathered Hemings' child took on a new urgency with the development of D-N-A testing.
Descendents of Hemings say they are entitled to share in the legacy and rewards of being descendents of Thomas Jefferson.
But Randall doesn't see it that way.
SOUNDBITE:(English)
"Why won't we believe the President of the United States when he denies this and we are only willing to believe Sally Hemings when there are already holes in her evidence, her testimony."
SUPER CAPTION: Willard Randall/Historian and author "Thomas Jefferson: A Life"
The evidence in this case is based on D-N-A testing completed on male descendents who might be related and those that are not related to generational offspring.
According to the General Manager of Cellmark Laboratories outside Washington, the test itself can't tell which male family member may have been the father.
SOUNDBITE:(English)
"DNA testing by itself is not something which would indicate which Jefferson is more likely than any other to have been the father of this particular child."
SUPER CAPTION: Mark Solotow, General Manager of Cellmark Diagnostics
This leaves the door open for relatives of Thomas Jefferson to have fathered the child with Sally Hemings.
Relatives such as Jefferson's brother, cousin or nephews all carried the same chromosome and could be the father.
SOUNDBITE:(English)
"Anyone who shares the same male lineage could be the donor of the "Y" chromosome that was detected in the offspring of Sally Hemings."
SUPER CAPTION: Mark Solotow, General Manager of Cellmark Diagnostics
Jefferson was the third president of the United States.
He also drew up the American Declaration of Independence and put his name to the American Constitution.
During his tenure as President, Jefferson was instrumental in purchasing a major portion of the United States from France, known as the Louisiana Purchase.
He also sent explorers Lewis and Clark from St. Louis west along the Missouri River to map and explore the newly acquired territory.
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