ABSTRACT
John Adams, the second president of the United States (1797— 1801), for some years (1805-1813) had been engaged in correspondence with Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813). At some point, Rush suggested that they exchange dreams, to which John Adams agreed (Ellis, 2001, p. 214). Rush, a distinguished physician and educator, had long been interested in dreams. To his students he suggested that "dreams should be allowed to 'sport themselves idly' in their brains. Observed, dreams could provide useful inferences" (McCullough, 2001, p. 600). Rush had already related several dreams and then reported to Adams a dream prompted by a breach in friendship that had arisen between Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
