In this special episode for Independence Day, President Bill Clinton traces the evolution of the presidency from America’s founding through the present day and explores how the best presidents used the office to build an America that more closely resembled our highest ideals and aspirations.

The episode features President Clinton’s keynote speech from this year’s Presidential Ideas Festival at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center with commentary by David Blight, Pulitzer Prize winning author of “Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom,” and professor of American History at Yale University.

Professor Blight says the speech is a “rare blend of learned history and lived experience ... This speech is a reminder of what the future of the institution of the presidency can still be.”