ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Thursday, February 20, 1997            TAG: 9702200070
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-5  EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: INDEPENDENCE
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER 

GRAYSON MAN HELPS WITH PBS SHOW

THE FORMER PROFESSOR OF DARTMOUTH UNIVERSITY said everyone can find something that interests them about Thomas Jefferson.

A Grayson County native is among the participants involved in Ken Burns' two-part "Thomas Jefferson" documentary that started Tuesday night on PBS-TV.

James M. Cox, who returned to his home place in Independence about 12 years ago, gave a commentary on Jefferson's role in writing the Declaration of Independence.

Cox, who taught at Dartmouth University for 29 years, is the author of essays on Jefferson and other matters in a book titled "Recovering Literature's Lost Ground." One of his essays gave the book its title.

Cox said he does not consider himself an expert on Jefferson, but has been interested in Jefferson for a long time.

"You have a little feeling about Jefferson and the land in Virginia," he said when asked about his interest in the nation's third president. But, he added, "I like to think that, wherever I'd been in this country, I wouldn't have ignored Thomas Jefferson."

Cox went to Charlottesville for his segment of the program, after having been asked to participate by one of Burns' associates. Cox and Burns met after Burns' acclaimed Civil War documentary was televised.

"I had lectured with Ken Burns on the Delta Queen (riverboat). I lectured on Mark Twain, Walt Whitman and the Civil War. It was shortly after his Civil War series," Cox said. "We were on it a week, so we saw each other and talked back and forth."

Apparently, Burns remembered the conversations because Cox was one of the speakers he sought for his Jefferson documentary. Others include columnist George Will, author Gore Vidal and historian Gary Wills.

Cox feels there is something about Jefferson to interest everyone because of the universality of his interests and achievements. "He touches so many people," Cox said.

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