“We are at war, and at stake is everything that Thomas Jefferson stood for,” said Daniel P. Jordan, head of the nonprofit Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which owns and operates Jefferson’s home, Monticello.

“This is a war against all of our fundamental ideas about an open society and the free pursuit of knowledge and truth,” Jordan said in accepting the award on Saturday at the Northern Virginia 4-H Educational Center in Front Royal. “After 9/11, our history and historic places have never been more important. We know the understanding of history is now a matter of national security, because we cannot defend what we can’t understand or define.”

Jordan, who taught history for 17 years at Virginia Commonwealth University before taking his present position with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation in 1985, said he is concerned about recent studies indicating that American high school and college students know very little about their country’s history and can often graduate from colleges and universities without taking a single course in the subject.

“We all had the same history teacher in high school with the same first name - coach,” Jordan said. “The majority of teachers are not prepared to teach history, and have neither a major nor a minor it the subject.”

On the other hand, Jordan said, the popularity of America’s historic places, like Monticello, is on the rise.

“Classroom history is a loser, textbook history is a loser, but historic places are winners because they help people appreciate our common heritage,” said Jordan, who has been active in a number of historic preservation advisory boards for more than 30 years.

“Historic places are the repositories of our core beliefs and values,” Jordan added. “Through them, history can be experienced in real time. They are three dimensional reminders of our past, where our own history comes into play, making it more personal and credible.”

Because of their value in helping Americans make a real connection with their country’s history, Jordan said the nation’s historic places are “worth fighting for more than ever.”

In the war against America’s core values, Jordan said, the knowledge of history and the preservation of historic places is crucial to helping Americans to “draw strength from the past and from those who have gone before us.”

Jordan was introduced by former Virginia Lt. Gov. John Hager, who also presented the official Outstanding Virginian plaque to Jordan.

Hager now serves as assistant secretary in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services in the U.S. Department of Education. He praised Jordan for his visionary oversight and guidance of major long range projects to improve and preserve Monticello and make it more accessible to visitors.

State Sen. Creigh Deeds, whose 25th District includes Albemarle County where Monticello is located, presented Jordan with the traditional Outstanding Virginian memento, a hand-carved clock in the form of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Deeds and State Del. Robert Bell, whose district also includes Albemarle County, made the official legislative announcement of Jordan’s selection as this year’s Outstanding Virginian during a joint session of both houses of the Virginia General Assembly on Feb. 15.

Jordan is a native of Mississippi and a graduate of the University of Mississippi, where he was student body president and a scholarship athlete in baseball and basketball.

He is a former officer of the U.S. Army Infantry, with service in Korea with the 7th Infantry Division and at the Special Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Jordan received his Ph.D. in American history from the University of Virginia, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and is now a Scholar in Residence.

He has written three books and more than 70 articles, essays and reviews. While on the faculty of VCU, he was twice honored as Teacher of the Year. He has presented numerous research papers at scholarly conferences and has given talks or slide presentations to general audiences throughout the U.S., including the White House.

Jordan has received several state ad national awards for contributions to historic preservation, as well as the Public Service Award, the highest award to a private citizen bestowed by the U.S. Department of the Interior.

He has served on numerous state and national boards, including the Advisory Board of the National Park Service, which he chaired. He has also served on the advisory board to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, and at present serves on advisory boards for the Civil War Preservation Trust, the Eudora Welty Foundation, the Freedom Forum’s Newseum and the Tredegar National Civil War Center. He also serves as the Curator ot the United States Senate and with the Virginia State Capitol Restoration board.

Jordan is married to the former Lewellyn “Lou” Schmelzer. They have three children and four grandchildren, and live on the Monticello grounds.

Jordan is the 26th person to be named Outstanding Virginian since the award was established in 1984 by the Virginia General Assembly.

The second Saturday of May is designated Outstanding Virginian Day by a 1984 joint resolution of the General Assembly, which also stipulates that the celebration be held at the 4-H Center, which keeps a portrait gallery of each year’s honoree.

The Governor of Virginia is the honorary chairman of the Outstanding Virginian Committee. John B. Adams Jr. is the chairman and Chief Justice Harry L. Carrico is the vice chairman.

The previous recipients were Harry F. Byrd Jr., Mills E. Godwin Jr., J. Kenneth Robinson, James C. Wheat, Charles S. Robb, John O. Marsh Jr., Dorothy McDiarmid, Harry L. Carrico, Ronald E. Carrier, A. Linwood Holton, John T. Casteen III, Gerald L. Baliles, Justice and Mrs. George C. Cochran, Sydney and Frances Lewis, Hunter B. Andrews, May Mathews, Timothy J. Sullivan, Alson H. Smith, Brenton S. Halsey, John T. Hazel, William A. Hazel, Oliver W. Hill, Lora Robins and Elizabeth H. Haskell.

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