In a January 18, 1813, letter to his son John Quincy Adams, a U.S. Founding Father and president John Adams writes:

“You have Sent a Pamphlet upon the Analogy between Russian Words and Sanscret Words.  Our University and our Accademy See no importance in this Pamphlet.  I know not whether they are not right.  But I have reasons for enquiring, whether in Russia there are any means of determining or probably conjecturing the Antiquity of the Sanscret Language? or of the Shasta? or of the Vedams? Or of any of the Sacred Books of the Persians, Egyptians or Indians?  Have you any Antiquities of the grand immortal Lama of Thibet?  Your Neighbourhood to China they give you Something of Confucius.  Your Neighbourhood of Persia may give you Something of Zoroaster.  Any Think of this kind, you can Send me ... Party Spirit Ecclesiastical, civil political and military, has in All Ages destroyed History, Records and Documents.”

…American Founders knew of and were curious about ancestral connections even if those in the educational system were ignorant of it… they certainly knew about Iran (Persia) and its native legacy...

[pic source booklikes: Cover image is “Zarathustra by the Sea” (2004) by Setsuko Aihara… for educational purposes only]