Clay Straus Jenkinson (born February 4, 1955, in Dickinson, North Dakota) is an American humanities scholar, author and educator.

He is currently the director of The Dakota Institute, where he co-hosts public radio's Listening to America, formerly The Thomas Jefferson Hour, and creates documentary films, symposia, and literary projects.

[5] As co-founder of the modern Chautauqua movement,[6] Jenkinson has also portrayed Sir Francis Bacon, Jonathan Swift, J. Robert Oppenheimer, John Wesley Powell, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Theodore Roosevelt, and Meriwether Lewis.

Another performance variation is represented by his nationally syndicated radio show, The Thomas Jefferson Hour: "While staying resolutely in character, Mr. Jenkinson permits Jefferson to answer audience questions on a broad range of historical subjects and comment carefully on contemporary social and political topics.

The National Endowment for the Humanities once described Jenkinson as "A leader in the revival of Chautauqua, a forum for public discussion about the ideas and lives of key figures in American history."