CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello will welcome retired four-star general and 26th U.S. Secretary of Defense General Jim Mattis and philanthropist, author, and civic leader David M. Rubenstein for a special Founders Day Weekend conversation, Character, Service, and the American Experiment, on Saturday, April 11, 2026, at 4:00 p.m. on Monticello’s West Lawn.
Set against the backdrop of Jefferson’s mountaintop home, the program will bring together two leaders who have spent decades reflecting on the meaning of leadership, character, and service to the nation. Mattis and Rubenstein will engage in a candid and wide-ranging discussion about the responsibilities of leadership, the role of the military in a democratic society, and the values that uphold American institutions. Their dialogue will be shaped by enduring questions Thomas Jefferson grappled with throughout his life: the nature of character, the obligations of public service, the exercise of power, and the essential relationship between a military and the democracy it serves.
“Founders Day Weekend invites us to reflect not only on Jefferson’s legacy, but on the ongoing work of renewing the American experiment,” said Dr. Jane Kamensky, president and CEO of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. “General Mattis and David Rubenstein bring deep experience and perspective to questions that remain central to our civic life. There could be no better moment for this powerful conversation than the generational milestone that is the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.”…