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THOMAS BOYISTON ADAMS, 65, treasurer of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston, traces his ancestry to John Adams. An articulate Yankee patrician whose appearance and speech evoke the image of his famous ancestor, Adams notes that the founders of the nation "never believed they had all the answers. They believed there would be future enlightenment." He laments the erosion of that idea, the impatience with a governmental system that is constantly evolving. He points to periods in history where one or even two of the three branches of Government failed, but the other—most often the judiciary —came to the rescue. Insists Adams: "Our tripartite Government has worked." But now he cautions that the judiciary must be prevented from becoming too autocratic.
Adams also fears that "we have almost eliminated public discussion in this country. How the devil we are going to restore it, I don't know. There might be something in these citizen-band radios. One can almost imagine the time when they might be used by people who had political ideas and wished to express them to a larger public."
ALEXANDER FRANKLIN HERMAN GOETZ, 38, a supervising geophysicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif, is descended from scientifically gifted Ben Franklin. Though he is highly competitive, Goetz deplores the emphasis on competition in American life. "People in the U.S. are involved in competition for money, status and jobs and therefore are perhaps not as concerned about one another as they should be." Still, he recognizes that such rivalry enabled the U.S. to progress. "As Franklin said, you work real hard, and you are just a little bit better, and you're a success in business."
Goetz is something of a pessimist: "The aspirations and ideals still exist in America, but we don't have anywhere to go." He thinks the poor and undereducated are trapped in a society where technology is reducing rather than expanding opportunities. Even so, he finds the U.S. "more tolerant of ideas than we used to be. We don't have a heavy religion trip laid on us any more, and we don't have the tyranny of the shopkeepers."
ARTHUR MIDDLETON WILLIAMS, 61, of Charleston, S.C., who is descended from Arthur Middleton of South Carolina, is less sanguine. He is convinced that his ancestor would be disturbed by "some of the restrictions that have been put on the powers of the states. I think America came into being as a country with very strong states' rights. The original signers would be very much concerned about [subsequent] restraints."
Williams, who is president of South Carolina Electric and Gas Co. and a former school-board member, is also worried about recent political scandals. "I'm sure there were scandals in their day, but I don't think anything could approach what's going on today." If Arthur Middleton were alive today, says Williams, he would be struck by the leadership role the U.S. has achieved since the 18th century and the resilience of its people.