Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Manky. Listener discretion advised. One brief
Speaker 1: housekeeping note before we begin. This fall, I am teaching
Speaker 1: an online romance writing class with Not Sorry. It starts
Speaker 1: October sixth. It's on Sundays, and it's virtual, so you
Speaker 1: can sign up if you're based anywhere in the world. Again,
Speaker 1: starting October six it will go from eight weeks. This
Speaker 1: program is so much fun. Last year I taught a
Speaker 1: class on horror writing. I had an amazing time. If
Speaker 1: you're interested in writing, or you're already a writer, or
Speaker 1: just want to like dip your toes into what it
Speaker 1: means to write romance or characters with chemistry, or if
Speaker 1: you've ever wanted to do Nano raimo, write a novel
Speaker 1: in November. This is a great opportunity. It's an incredibly
Speaker 1: supportive community and it offers accountability for your writing. So
Speaker 1: if you want to join us, sign up now at
Speaker 1: not Sorry works dot com. If you sign up quick,
Speaker 1: there's an early bird discount. There's also scholarships available if
Speaker 1: you scroll on the page and apply for that information.
Speaker 1: I just love teaching these classes. I love making writing
Speaker 1: accessible and building a fun community. And I've had a
Speaker 1: great time this class. I'm teaching with a brilliant co teacher,
Speaker 1: vanessa's Oultan, who I absolutely love. She's so smart and
Speaker 1: so funny. I just know we're gonna have a great
Speaker 1: time this October. So if this interests you, absolutely join us.
Speaker 1: Let's get into the episode. The man who arrived in
Speaker 1: Paris was one of the most famous people on the planet,
Speaker 1: the type of person who influenced fashion and caused crowds
Speaker 1: to gather on the sides of streets to cheer his carriage.
Speaker 1: Passing collectibles would be printed with his face in honor
Speaker 1: of his arrival in France, and dinner parties would be
Speaker 1: thrown for him. The French considered him to be another
Speaker 1: Mutan or Galileo, a great intellectual in the vein of Voltaire.
Speaker 1: He was Benjamin Franklin, and for most Parisians he was
Speaker 1: almost certainly the only person from America that they would
Speaker 1: have heard of, the man who had managed to pull
Speaker 1: lightning from the heavens. It was an honor and a
Speaker 1: privilege that he was choosing to spend time in France,
Speaker 1: and the French were going to make sure that he
Speaker 1: knew that they understood that. Within weeks of his arrival,
Speaker 1: women began wearing lightning dresses and hats with metal lightning
Speaker 1: rods sticking out of them, complete with small chains trailing
Speaker 1: down to ground any possible electric charges. Although I imagine these
Speaker 1: were only styles worn in comfortably sunny weather. Women also
Speaker 1: styled their pompadours to resemble the famous fur cap that
Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin chose to wear instead of the more standard
Speaker 1: powdered wig. The women called the hair do a coffeur
Speaker 1: a la Franklin. Paris had a case of Franklin mania.
Speaker 1: His book of Poor Richard's aphorisms was translated and published
Speaker 1: in French copies of Lacience de bonam. Richard frequently appeared
Speaker 1: at the most glamorous salons. Franklin's portrait appeared over mantles,
Speaker 1: his face was embossed on collectibles, dishes, walking sticks, and
Speaker 1: snuff boxes. The French, Franklin wrote in a letter to
Speaker 1: family back in America, have made your father's face as
Speaker 1: well known as that of the moon. In fact, the
Speaker 1: mania became so extreme that King Louis the sixteenth himself
Speaker 1: was a little annoyed by it. As a tongue in
Speaker 1: cheek gesture, he commissioned a chamber pot for a friend
Speaker 1: with Benjamin Franklin's face on it. Franklin's social calendar was
Speaker 1: an endless parade of parties, dinners, and salons. It seemed
Speaker 1: that he spent most of his time flirting with his
Speaker 1: many female admirers. As a matter of fact, it seemed
Speaker 1: as though Benjamin Franklin was having so much fun in
Speaker 1: Paris that anyone might be forgiven for thinking that pleasure
Speaker 1: was the reason he was there in the first place.
Speaker 1: But the truth was something kept hidden by design from
Speaker 1: almost everyone in Europe. Benjamin Franklin was in France on
Speaker 1: a mission, and though he certainly enjoyed being fitted, he
Speaker 1: knew that his mission was critically important to the fate
Speaker 1: of what he hoped would one day be his young nation.
Speaker 1: The American Colonies were at war with the British for
Speaker 1: their independence, and in seventeen seventy seven they were lacking money, food, uniforms,
Speaker 1: and hope. Even the fai to see that George Washington
Speaker 1: and his meager army might defeat the vastly superior British
Speaker 1: forces would only be possible with the help of an
Speaker 1: outside resource. The American revolutionaries needed France, and so they
Speaker 1: needed Benjamin Franklin. So while Parisian socialites amused themselves dressing
Speaker 1: to honor Franklin's scientific achievements, Franklin himself was hard at
Speaker 1: work trying to figure out a way to convince a
Speaker 1: monarch to help fund revolutionaries attempting to overthrow that very
Speaker 1: same system of government that he presided over. Franklin sat
Speaker 1: at feasts trying to play his diplomatic hand exactly right,
Speaker 1: while he knew that at those exact same moments American
Speaker 1: troops were starving. I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is noble blood.
Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin wasn't always a revolutionary. Just a few years
Speaker 1: before he would sign the Declaration of Independence, he was
Speaker 1: a loyal British subject, actually trying his diplomatic best to
Speaker 1: work within the colonial system while tensions between the British
Speaker 1: and the colonists were rising. In seventeen seventy two, Franklin
Speaker 1: was co Postmaster General and he was faced with a
Speaker 1: massive scandal. An anonymous source had forwarded along a collection
Speaker 1: of private letters written by the Governor of Massachusetts. The
Speaker 1: governor was writing to British officials, saying that he thought
Speaker 1: the colonies needed harsher oversight and more troops, even that
Speaker 1: certain liberties that English citizens enjoyed ought to be restricted
Speaker 1: amongst the colonists. Obviously, the letters were massively inflammatory, the
Speaker 1: type of rhetoric that would only stoke the growing revolutionary
Speaker 1: sentiment in America. Although Franklin decided that the letters should
Speaker 1: not be published or made public, he showed them to
Speaker 1: Samuel Adams and the members of the Massachusetts House. The
Speaker 1: letters did not stay secret for long. They were published
Speaker 1: in the Boston Gazette. English officials were furious about the scandal.
Speaker 1: Those were private letters that had been leaked, and the
Speaker 1: source of the leak had not been identified. Who had
Speaker 1: given the letters to Franklin in the first place. Franklin
Speaker 1: was summoned to England to testify before the King's Privy
Speaker 1: Council in a room referred to as the cockpit. Franklin
Speaker 1: understood just how infuriated the colonists were, and he tried
Speaker 1: to reason with the Englishmen, advocating for the British to
Speaker 1: appoint a new governor and lieutenant governor in Massachusetts. But
Speaker 1: the men in the cockpit had no interest in an
Speaker 1: engaging in good faith with Franklin. Instead, Franklin was mocked
Speaker 1: and ridiculed by the Solicitor General. He was accused of
Speaker 1: dishonor and thievery. Benjamin Franklin had come to England hoping
Speaker 1: to turn the temperature down on revolutionary talk. He sailed
Speaker 1: home convinced that revolution was the only way forward. A
Speaker 1: little over a year later, the first shots of the
Speaker 1: Revolutionary War would be fired at Lexington and Concord. Though
Speaker 1: the revolutionaries had the strength of their convictions, that was
Speaker 1: one of the only strengths they had. American soldiers were untrained,
Speaker 1: under fed, and massively underfunded. If they were going to
Speaker 1: stand a fighting chance against the British, they needed help.
Speaker 1: On October twenty sixth, seventeen seventy six, Benjamin Franklin, then
Speaker 1: seventy years old, was sent to France as one of
Speaker 1: three diplomats on a top secret mission to secure French
Speaker 1: support for the revolution. He traveled with two of his
Speaker 1: grandsons on a ship called the Reprisal. It was an
Speaker 1: incredibly treacherous journey. Franklin wrote that the voyage quote almost
Speaker 1: demolished me. They had limited rations on board, and by
Speaker 1: the time Benjamin Franklin landed in Europe he had boils
Speaker 1: and scabs all over his body, including on his balding scalp.
Speaker 1: But even more dangerous than the risk of disease or
Speaker 1: dangerous seas was the fact that Benjamin Franklin was technically
Speaker 1: traveling as a traitor. The British Navy patrolled the Atlantic,
Speaker 1: and if they captured him as a signer of the
Speaker 1: Declaration of Independence, he could have been hanged. Fortunately, Franklin
Speaker 1: managed to make it to Brittany intact, and though he
Speaker 1: had planned on keeping his arrival in France a secret celebrity,
Speaker 1: made that challenging word that the famous Benjamin Franklin was
Speaker 1: on their shores, made to Paris before he did, and
Speaker 1: the celebrations of all things Benjamin Franklin began. One thing
Speaker 1: that Benjamin Franklin understood implicitly was how to play act
Speaker 1: the role of an American. In order to delight the French,
Speaker 1: he wore an iconic fur hat in the style of
Speaker 1: a hat that had been famously worn by the philosopher Rousseau,
Speaker 1: which gave Franklin both an intellectual and a delightfully rustic
Speaker 1: frontier style appeal. The hat also served the additional purpose
Speaker 1: of covering the scabs that still covered his head from
Speaker 1: the miserable ship ride across the Atlantic. Franklin was a
Speaker 1: bonafied sensation, the most famous American in the world, and
Speaker 1: a celebrated scholar scientist. When he moved into a house
Speaker 1: in the suburbs outside Paris, invited by the man who
Speaker 1: owned the manor, a lightning rod was hoisted on the
Speaker 1: roof in Franklin's honor. He received what seemed like an
Speaker 1: endless stream of visitors, including plenty of women who adored
Speaker 1: his company and whom he adored wright back. His favorite
Speaker 1: was a woman named Madame Brion, his thirty three year
Speaker 1: old married neighbor, a year younger than Franklin's daughter. The
Speaker 1: two had an incredibly close relationship. They played chess and
Speaker 1: had tea multiple times a week, and though their letters
Speaker 1: were intimate in a loving way and Franklin made his
Speaker 1: sexual interest clear, Madame Brion politely reminded him that she
Speaker 1: was a married woman, and the two just genuinely seemed
Speaker 1: to enjoy each other's company. From that point on, the
Speaker 1: relationship became more platonic and paternal, But Benjamin Franklin was
Speaker 1: an incredible flirt, which was one of the primary modes
Speaker 1: of communication in France. One particular line that I think
Speaker 1: shows off his celebrated charm came when he was playing
Speaker 1: a game of chess with a woman. Instead of checkmating
Speaker 1: his opponent, he simply claimed her king. The woman scolded him,
Speaker 1: telling him in France they didn't take kings that way. Ah,
Speaker 1: Franklin replied, we do in America. As enjoyable as his
Speaker 1: socializing was, it wasn't the reason Benjamin Franklin was in France.
Speaker 1: He needed to convince King Louis the sixteenth to join
Speaker 1: with the fledgling United States of America, to recognize it
Speaker 1: as a nation and support it in its revolution against
Speaker 1: the British. Now, if there's one thing France loves, it's
Speaker 1: fighting the British, and just a few years earlier, the
Speaker 1: British had humiliated France in the Seven Years War, cementing
Speaker 1: British domination in America and Canada. France did have a
Speaker 1: vested interest in restoring the balance of power away from
Speaker 1: England in the New World, and they had a personal
Speaker 1: interest in defeating the British. But Benjamin Franklin's task was
Speaker 1: still a massively difficult one. For one, much as he
Speaker 1: was trying to convince France that the United States was
Speaker 1: an actual unified nation, that was a long way off.
Speaker 1: America was fighting the Revolutionary War, yes, but there was
Speaker 1: still no consensus even among the Continental Congress whether America
Speaker 1: was one people or thirteen pulling together for a common cause.
Speaker 1: For another thing, France's resources were already massively strained, and
Speaker 1: if they sent ships to North America, they would be
Speaker 1: playing a risk ski games in terms of their ability
Speaker 1: to protect France itself and the French West Indies against
Speaker 1: the vastly powerful and far superior British navy, the most
Speaker 1: powerful navy in the world. It was such a dangerous
Speaker 1: proposition that Louis the sixteenth wrote a letter to the
Speaker 1: King of Spain. King to King, he knew that whether
Speaker 1: or not to recognize the US was an incredibly important decision,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't one that he wanted France to have
Speaker 1: to make a loan. And then all of that aside,
Speaker 1: there was the philosophical issue of asking King Louis the
Speaker 1: sixteenth to fund the overthrow of another monarch. While trying
Speaker 1: to win the French government over, Franklin told them about
Speaker 1: how powerful George Washington's army was. Washington was leading an
Speaker 1: army of eighty thousand men, he said, well trained, fierce
Speaker 1: fighters who would stop at nothing until they achieved their
Speaker 1: freedom from tyranny. Franklin said that Americans could hold out
Speaker 1: for thirty years, and when reports reached France that the
Speaker 1: British had taken Philadelphia, Franklin just smiled and shook his head.
Speaker 1: It was all part of the plan. The river would freeze,
Speaker 1: you see, and the British would be trapped there. Franklin
Speaker 1: was fully bluffing. Washington had closer to fourteen thousand men,
Speaker 1: nowhere near eighty, and they were so poor that they
Speaker 1: couldn't afford uniforms. When Philadelphia fell to the British, a
Speaker 1: British officer commandeered Benjamin Franklin's own home, stealing his books,
Speaker 1: private papers, and scientific equipment. Though Franklin's ally in France,
Speaker 1: the Foreign Minister Compe de Vergen, was able to sneak
Speaker 1: Franklin and the Americans some funds under the table. The
Speaker 1: French were not going to officially support the Revolution unless
Speaker 1: there was some proof that it wasn't a fully lost cause.
Speaker 1: All Franklin could do, much to the chagrin of his
Speaker 1: American colleagues watching from across the ocean, was weight continuing
Speaker 1: to wage his personal charm offensive against the French people.
Speaker 1: After months of bluffing and treading water, the tide finally
Speaker 1: shifted on October seventeenth, seventeen seventy seven, when Americans defeated
Speaker 1: the British general John Burgoyne in the Battle of Saratoga.
Speaker 1: It was a tremendous victory, a turning point in the Revolution,
Speaker 1: and exactly the sword of moment Benjamin Franklin needed in
Speaker 1: order to convince the French that helping the Americans was
Speaker 1: backing a winning team. Franklin sprang into action, writing detailed
Speaker 1: and poetic accounts of the incredible victory, taking particular time
Speaker 1: to raise the French soldiers who had been fighting alongside
Speaker 1: the colonists, Because even if the French government had been
Speaker 1: hesitant to officially join in the American Revolution, there was
Speaker 1: no shortage of valiant young frenchmen, particularly young noblemen inspired
Speaker 1: by the daring do of the Marquis de Lafayette, who
Speaker 1: wanted to prove their medal on a field of battle
Speaker 1: that would also incidentally give them a chance to humiliate
Speaker 1: the British. Franklin's efforts worked. On February sixth, seventeen seventy seven,
Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin met with the Foreign Minister Version to sign
Speaker 1: not one, but two treaties. The first was a treaty
Speaker 1: of Friendship and commerce. The second, and more important of
Speaker 1: the two, was a treaty of military alliance. Not only
Speaker 1: had France officially recognized the United States as a nation,
Speaker 1: it had officially joined in its rugs revolutionary efforts. Imagine
Speaker 1: the scene of French officials that day at the end
Speaker 1: of the eighteenth century, and try to picture what you
Speaker 1: imagine they might be wearing, fine silks, embroideries, the type
Speaker 1: of clothing that reflects the importance of the occasion within
Speaker 1: a culture where people were already wearing incredibly ornate, decorated clothing.
Speaker 1: In contrast, Benjamin Franklin wore a simple brown wool waistcoat suit.
Speaker 1: But he had a very specific reason for the outfit
Speaker 1: he chose. It was the exact same suit he had
Speaker 1: been wearing less than a decade earlier, when he was
Speaker 1: berated and humiliated by the British while testifying in the cockpit.
Speaker 1: Now that same jacket would witness the signing of the
Speaker 1: treaty that might help America cast off Britain's yoke forever.
Speaker 1: It was an act of sirctorial vengeance, the eighteenth century
Speaker 1: equivalent of Princess Diana's revenge dress. Franklin did wear slightly
Speaker 1: more formal garb a month later when he appeared at
Speaker 1: Versailles for the ratification of the alliance. This time he
Speaker 1: wore a black velvet suit lined with white ruffles and
Speaker 1: silk stockings. Even still, the chamberlain took a moment's pause
Speaker 1: before letting him into court because Franklin wasn't wearing the
Speaker 1: wig and sword that was required by court etiquette. Still then,
Speaker 1: as today, dress codes are more suggestions when you're famous,
Speaker 1: and Franklin was invited into an audience with King Louis
Speaker 1: the sixteenth in the King's Great Chamber. The king extended
Speaker 1: a message of goodwill to Congress, stating that he hoped
Speaker 1: the alliance would be quote for the good of our
Speaker 1: two nations. Franklin was effusive in his gratitude and replied
Speaker 1: to the King with the type of remark that seems
Speaker 1: so poignant in its dramatic irony, that I'm tempted to
Speaker 1: believe it was apocryphal. If all rulers ruled with your benevolence,
Speaker 1: Franklin told the King Louis the sixteenth republics would never
Speaker 1: be formed. Once the formal acknowledgments were taken care of,
Speaker 1: Franklin was invited to spend time with the royal family.
Speaker 1: When account relates that while Franklin was watching a game
Speaker 1: play out on a gaming table, he was honored by
Speaker 1: the particular notice of the Queen, who courteously desired him
Speaker 1: to stand near to her, and as often as the
Speaker 1: game did not require her immediate attention, she took occasion
Speaker 1: to speak to him in very obliging terms. Franklin and
Speaker 1: Marie Antoinette were also said to have strolled through the
Speaker 1: gardens of Versailles, where he explained to her the basics
Speaker 1: of his electrical experiments. Allegedly, Marie Antoinette asked Benjamin Franklin
Speaker 1: if he was worried that, like Prometheus, who was chained
Speaker 1: to a rock with his liver plucked out for all eternity,
Speaker 1: he too worried that he would be punished for stealing
Speaker 1: fire from heaven. Franklin replied that he would quote if
Speaker 1: he did not behold a pair of eyes pass unpunished,
Speaker 1: which have stolen infinitely more fire from Jove than he
Speaker 1: ever did, though they do more mischief in a week
Speaker 1: than he has done in all my experiments. The task
Speaker 1: of official recognition was done, but Benjamin Franklin's work was
Speaker 1: far from over. The revolutionaries were in desperate need still
Speaker 1: of money, supplies, and ammunition, and trying to get the
Speaker 1: French people to provide it became the central focus of
Speaker 1: Franklin's work. Biographer Stacy Schiff recounted how at one point
Speaker 1: the Americans sent Franklin a thirty eight page list of
Speaker 1: the things they needed from the French, including quote, a frigate,
Speaker 1: a ship of the line, and forty nine thousand uniforms,
Speaker 1: as well as spoons, trumpets, paint, and thimbles. According to Shiff,
Speaker 1: the demands was so massive that Franklin was left speechless.
Speaker 1: It's at this point that another Founding father makes a
Speaker 1: cameo in the story. In seventeen seventy eight, future President
Speaker 1: John Adams joined Franklin in France as an ambassador. It
Speaker 1: was a terrible idea from the start. If you've seen
Speaker 1: the excellent HBO mini series John Adams starring Paul Giamatti,
Speaker 1: you probably have a fairly good understanding of what sort
Speaker 1: of man Adams was. Principled and brilliant, but straightforward, blunt,
Speaker 1: hard working, with no patience for nonsense. In other words,
Speaker 1: a terrible fit for France, where diplomacy was more reliant
Speaker 1: on charm and flirtation than anything else. He was also
Speaker 1: a terrible match for Benjamin Franklin, who, as shiff elegantly
Speaker 1: put it, was a master of the French art of quote,
Speaker 1: accomplishing much while appearing to accomplish little. Adams despised Franklin.
Speaker 1: Where was the man who had written Poor Richard's Almanac?
Speaker 1: Early to bed, Early to rise? All of that. The
Speaker 1: Franklin that Adams saw in France was a lush who
Speaker 1: seemed to spend more time socializing than working. He was
Speaker 1: invited to dine every day and never declined, Adams wrote,
Speaker 1: and it was the only thing in which he was punctual.
Speaker 1: To make matters worse, Adams also had to bear witness
Speaker 1: to Franklin's tremendous celebrity. As Adams put it, Franklin was green,
Speaker 1: did like quote an opera girl everywhere they went. Adams
Speaker 1: was so unpopular in France that the Foreign minister actually
Speaker 1: insisted that Franklin be the only American representative, and so
Speaker 1: Adams was sent back across the Atlantic, although his mistrust
Speaker 1: and resentment of Franklin never abated. In seventeen eighty three,
Speaker 1: Adams wrote a letter stating, quote, if I was in
Speaker 1: Congress and Franklin and the marble Mercury in the garden
Speaker 1: of Versailles were in nomination for an embassy, I would
Speaker 1: not hesitate to give my vote for the statue upon
Speaker 1: the principle that it would do no harm. The growing
Speaker 1: sentiment of resentment of Franklin's slow progress in France seemed
Speaker 1: to be shared amongst the United States. America needed resources immediately,
Speaker 1: and France was not providing them. Why couldn't Franklin get more?
Speaker 1: At one point, Congress was so frustrated with Franklin that
Speaker 1: they floated the idea of replacing him. That notion was
Speaker 1: so abhorrent to Franklin's friend and ally, the Foreign Minister Vergennes,
Speaker 1: that Virgen immediately sent over a large shipment to America
Speaker 1: and wrote to make sure that Congress understood that he
Speaker 1: had only granted it specifically on account of Benjamin Franklin.
Speaker 1: Franklin continued his efforts to fund the Americans, writing letters
Speaker 1: and missives, charming the French, and trying to secure supplies
Speaker 1: as best he could, but by seventeen eighty one the
Speaker 1: war was dragging on. It was midnight when a courier
Speaker 1: arrived at the suburban home Franklin lived in with incredible news.
Speaker 1: The Americans had achieved victory at Yorktown with the help
Speaker 1: of six thousand men that King Louis the sixteenth had
Speaker 1: sent under Lieutenant General Rochambeau. George Washington had trapped General Cornwallis,
Speaker 1: and a helpful French fleet posted just offshore meant that
Speaker 1: the British wouldn't be able to escape or send for
Speaker 1: more supplies. Cornwallis had no options. He surrendered. The American
Speaker 1: Revolutionary War was all but over, and John Jay and
Speaker 1: John Adams arrived in Europe to work with Benjamin Franklin
Speaker 1: on finalizing the end of the war with the British.
Speaker 1: Though the nature of the American treaty with France meant
Speaker 1: that the Americans were supposed to consult with France and
Speaker 1: Virgin on their British peace agreement. John Jay and Adams
Speaker 1: bulked at that idea and preferred to work independently. It
Speaker 1: was a tricky situation for Franklin, who had seen firsthand
Speaker 1: just how much the French had done for them and
Speaker 1: how much Virgin had done for him personally, but he
Speaker 1: had no choice but to go along with the other negotiators.
Speaker 1: France was understandably upset at being left completely out of
Speaker 1: the peace agreement, and so it was left to Franklin
Speaker 1: to apologize to Verzhen, which he did in an absolutely
Speaker 1: masterful letter. He wrote that the omission quote was not
Speaker 1: from want of respect for the King, whom we all
Speaker 1: love and honor. It is not possible for anyone to
Speaker 1: be more sensible than I am of what I and
Speaker 1: every American owe to the King for the many and
Speaker 1: great benefits and favors he has bestowed upon us. The English,
Speaker 1: I just now learn flatter themselves that they have already
Speaker 1: divided us. I hope this little misunderstanding will therefore be
Speaker 1: kept a perfect secret, and that they find themselves totally mistaken.
Speaker 1: He added that he hoped, quote, the great work which
Speaker 1: has hitherto been so happily conducted, is so nearly brought
Speaker 1: to perfection, and is so glorious to his reign, will
Speaker 1: not be ruined by a single indiscretion of ours, And
Speaker 1: certainly the whole edifice falls to the ground immediately if
Speaker 1: you refuse, on that account to give us any further assistance.
Speaker 1: Did you catch that last part? Not only had America
Speaker 1: excluded France from negotiating in the peace agreement, but now
Speaker 1: America needed more money, and the absolutely insane part the
Speaker 1: letter worked. Next time you apologize, if it doesn't end
Speaker 1: with the person you wronged giving you more money, just
Speaker 1: know that Benjamin Franklin was operating on a different level,
Speaker 1: and the affection the French had for Benjamin Franklin lasted
Speaker 1: until the end. When Franklin eventually left the country, it
Speaker 1: was Marie Antoinette who personally lent him a litter carried
Speaker 1: between mules because franklin health issue made normal coach travel uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: I want to be clear, as an American citizen, I
Speaker 1: am personally very grateful to the French for everything they
Speaker 1: did for us in the Revolutionary War, but hindsight being
Speaker 1: what it is looking back, it was a catastrophic move
Speaker 1: for the French monarchy. According to Schiff, the value of
Speaker 1: French material and manpower sent by Louis the sixteenth was
Speaker 1: the equivalent of approximately twenty billion dollars in today's money.
Speaker 1: The empty treasury was certainly an aggravating factor six years
Speaker 1: later when the French Revolution began, and the money doesn't
Speaker 1: even account for the philosophical impact of the American Revolution
Speaker 1: on the French people. Hearing all about overthrowing a tyrannous
Speaker 1: monarch and the essential promises of liberty helped the French
Speaker 1: revolutionaries establish their vocabulary when it came to the revolution
Speaker 1: that would lead to Louis the Das sixteenth head detached
Speaker 1: from his body. But again for Americans, it is almost
Speaker 1: impossible to overstate how important that French aid was during
Speaker 1: the Revolutionary War. As Schiff says, quote, when the British
Speaker 1: surrendered at Yorktown, they did so to forces that were
Speaker 1: nearly equal parts French and American, all fed, clothed and
Speaker 1: paid by France and protected by a French navy. Biographer
Speaker 1: Walter Isaacson puts Benjamin Franklin's impact specifically into focus. He said, quote,
Speaker 1: I think Benjamin Franklin, by sealing the alliance with France,
Speaker 1: did as much to win the revolution as anybody, with
Speaker 1: the possible exception of George Washington. If John Adams were
Speaker 1: to hear that, I know he would be rolling in
Speaker 1: his grave. Even as it happened, he was aware of
Speaker 1: the mythologizing that was happening in real time. Our ten
Speaker 1: tidency to exalt individual heroes over the boring hard work
Speaker 1: of slow collective effort. Quote, the history of our revolution
Speaker 1: will be one continued lie from one end to the other,
Speaker 1: he wrote. The essence of the whole will be that
Speaker 1: doctor Franklin's electric rod smote to the earth and outsprung
Speaker 1: General Washington. I apologize to John Adams if this podcast
Speaker 1: continues the Franklin mythmaking yet another telling of the story
Speaker 1: of the man who charmed the French into helping us
Speaker 1: win a war. That's the story of Benjamin Franklin working
Speaker 1: with the French monarchy to overthrow the British monarchy. But
Speaker 1: keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a
Speaker 1: little bit about how the French inspired one of Benjamin
Speaker 1: Franklin's most famous inventions. Benjamin Franklin is famous as a
Speaker 1: founding father, but he's also acclaimed as an inventor. Ask
Speaker 1: any precocious elementary school student in the US and they'd
Speaker 1: probably be able to rattle off a few of his inventions.
Speaker 1: The lightning rod, of course, but also the Franklin stove,
Speaker 1: a glass armonica, the catheter, and swim fins. And one
Speaker 1: of his other most famous inventions came about because he
Speaker 1: wasn't that good at French. During his time in Paris,
Speaker 1: Benjamin Franklin was invited to a countless number of dinner
Speaker 1: parties because his French was still rudimentary. If he wanted
Speaker 1: to understand what his dining companions were saying, he would
Speaker 1: need to be able to see their lips moving across
Speaker 1: the table, but he also wanted to be able to
Speaker 1: make out the food in front of him. This dilemma
Speaker 1: of wanting his vision corrected at different distances led to
Speaker 1: an invention that still used today by vocals. Noble Blood
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild from
Speaker 1: Aaron Mankey. Nobel Blood is hosted by me Danish Forts,
Speaker 1: with additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zewick,
Speaker 1: Courtney Sender, Julia Milani, and Arman Cassam. The show is
Speaker 1: edited and produced by Noemy Griffin and rima Il Kaali,
Speaker 1: with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive producers Aaron Mankey,
Speaker 1: Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. Four more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.