ABC tracks descendants of U.S. presidents for America’s 250th anniversary

The network’s 24-hour “Disney Celebrates America” broadcast begins at 10 p.m. ET on July 3 and runs through July 4, with “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir leading coverage from all 50 states. ABC News is tracing the family lines of George Washington, John Quincy Adams and Zachary Taylor as the country approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Thomas R. Washington, the fifth nephew of George Washington, said he tries to carry forward traits he associates with the first president. “I tend to try to be honest in my dealings with people. I want to be trustworthy. I think those were two features that George Washington had in abundance. I try to be intellectual, I try to learn, I tried to treat people right,” he told ABC News. “And I see some of those same qualities in other family members from the Washington family, and perhaps it's passed down.”

Ben Adams, the third great-grandson of John Quincy Adams, said the sixth president returned to Congress after leaving the White House and recalled a family memory. “I suppose one of his most incredible accomplishments was, after having had a long career as a diplomat and as president of the United States and secretary of state, he actually chose to return to Congress after he was president. He was the only president who actually did so,” Adams said. He also recalled that “John Quincy Adams was famous for skinny dipping in the Potomac River, which was a practice he apparently undertook almost every day, at least when the weather was warm.”

Gary Mattingly, the great grandnephew of Zachary Taylor, said Taylor’s greatest accomplishment was becoming the first president to hold office with no political background. Taylor served as the 12th president from 1849 until his death in 1850, while Washington served from 1789 to 1797 and John Quincy Adams from 1825 to 1829.

Every generation since 1776 has argued over the practical meaning of the Declaration and Constitution. Virginia Tech historian Paul Quigley said as much, while political scientist Karen Hult said the country has made halting and uneven progress toward those aspirations. Dan Thorp, another Virginia Tech historian, said the document remains powerful because people in the United States and around the world have repeatedly appealed to its ideals of equality and justice, even when those ideals were not true in practice at the founding.

Congress created the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission in 2016, and the White House established Task Force 250 on January 29, 2025, to coordinate the celebration through the end of 2026. America250's “America’s Time Capsule” was sealed in June and will be buried at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia on July 4, 2026, before being opened in 2276; the capsule contains contributions from all three branches of government, all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and five U.S. territories.