1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:06,320 Speaker 1: We take it for granted, but American independence was not 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:11,680 Speaker 1: a foregone conclusion. The Revolutionary War was long, more than 3 00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:16,119 Speaker 1: six grinding years between the first shots at Lexington and 4 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: Conquered and the British surrender at Yorktown, and they all 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: too oft an unpaid, ill equipped, underfed patriots were almost 6 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:30,200 Speaker 1: always playing defense, one battle away from total defeat and 7 00:00:30,240 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 1: the very real risk of capital punishment as traitors to 8 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: the crown. Father of his country. George Washington earned that title, 9 00:00:40,159 --> 00:00:44,480 Speaker 1: but Washington wasn't at Saratoga in upstate New York, site 10 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: of arguably the most important turning point in the war. 11 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: In the summer of seventeen seventy seven, about eight thousand 12 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: troops under British General John Burgoyne came down from Canada 13 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: and through the Hudson River Valley, expecting to join British 14 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: troops moving up from New York City. The colonies would 15 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: be split into a classic divide and conquer and the 16 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: rebellion would be put down. But those other British troops 17 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: didn't show, and on September near the town of Saratoga, 18 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: the British Burgoyne met a line of American troops after 19 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:33,679 Speaker 1: an initial bloody confrontation, the British and the Americans, under 20 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: the cautious leadership of General Horatio Gates, engaged each other 21 00:01:38,000 --> 00:01:43,399 Speaker 1: indecisively for almost three weeks. Then, on October seven, the 22 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 1: British launched an attack, trying to break through American lines, 23 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: but before Gates could issue a command, another American general 24 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:55,840 Speaker 1: flew into action. No man shall keep me in my 25 00:01:56,000 --> 00:02:00,120 Speaker 1: tent today, this general raged. I am without command, and 26 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,279 Speaker 1: I will fight in the ranks. But the soldiers, God 27 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:08,320 Speaker 1: bless them, will follow my lead. Cursing, rallying the patriots, 28 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 1: he charged out on horseback, straight into the fray. He 29 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: was our fighting general. A comrade later wrote, as brave 30 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:23,560 Speaker 1: a man as ever lived that general's name, Benedict Arnold. 31 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: Anyone would be hard pressed the point to a officer 32 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:32,520 Speaker 1: in the Continental Army who was a better general. In 33 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: the first years of the Revolution, Arnold's horse was shot 34 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,480 Speaker 1: from right under him. He suffered a terrible wound to 35 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: his leg, but he and his men prevailed, routing the British. 36 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:49,440 Speaker 1: Ten days later, Burgoyne surrendered. As a result of that victory, 37 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:52,959 Speaker 1: the French entered to the Revolutionary War on the side 38 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: of the Patriots. As the writer R. W. Apple Jr. 39 00:02:56,560 --> 00:02:59,560 Speaker 1: Put it, it marked the beginning of the end of 40 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 1: the British Empire, and it breathed life into the United 41 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:09,359 Speaker 1: States of America, in no small part thanks to Benedict Arnold. 42 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 1: This is the hidden part of Arnold, the Arnold before 43 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: he went back, but just three years later, Benedict Arnold, 44 00:03:17,880 --> 00:03:22,079 Speaker 1: the hero of Saratoga, would betray his country, his name 45 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 1: consigned to infamy. Whom can we trust? Now? That was 46 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: the question that Arnold made all Americans face. This episode 47 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: will tell you the story of Benedict Arnold before he 48 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:41,279 Speaker 1: became synonymous with treason, and will tell you the surprising 49 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: backstories of some of history's other villains. You have summoned 50 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: the Prince of Temptation fo what Purpose? From CBS Sunday 51 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: Morning and I Heart I'm Morocca. And this is mobituaries, 52 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: This mopit Benedict Arnold, Peanuts and satan before they went bad. 53 00:04:24,520 --> 00:04:27,400 Speaker 1: You know what are you doing studying my script? I'm 54 00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:31,840 Speaker 1: in the school play. Oh it's wonderful, I'll plan Benedict Donald, 55 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: Benedict Arnold. Yeah, it's a great part. Well, it is 56 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:42,320 Speaker 1: if you like being a trader that's from a nine 57 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: two episode of The Brady Bunch. Middle son Peter Braby 58 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:50,680 Speaker 1: gets cast in the school play as Benedict Arnold, and 59 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: it's making him a pariah, so much so that he 60 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:56,479 Speaker 1: fakes being sick to get out of the play. I 61 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: want you to level with us. You don't want to 62 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 1: be in that play, don't you. No. I don't why, Peter, 63 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:06,920 Speaker 1: you said you were going to be the best Benedict 64 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:09,440 Speaker 1: Donald ever. Well, you don't know what it's been like. 65 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:12,800 Speaker 1: Everybody riding me, booing and hissing me because I'm playing 66 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: a trader. I understood Peter's predicament. I don't know about 67 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 1: the kids today, but when I was growing up, to 68 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:24,159 Speaker 1: be called a Benedict Arnold was a really insult, wasn't it. Oh? Absolutely, 69 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 1: but it was weird. My mom always said her hero 70 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: was Bennedicgonald, and so that just confused me as a kid. 71 00:05:32,440 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: Bennedicdonald epitomizes being a trader, being evil. He is the 72 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:41,880 Speaker 1: snake in our garden. Historian Nathaniel Philbrick is the author 73 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: of three books on the American Revolution, including Valiant Ambition, 74 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,840 Speaker 1: about the relationship between Benedict Donald and George Washington. But 75 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: hold on a second, what was your mother's rationale for 76 00:05:54,040 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: saying he was her hero? She was a contrarian. But 77 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:00,719 Speaker 1: I think back in the day she read ken Robert's 78 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: series of novels about the American Revolution, and Benedicdonald is 79 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:11,040 Speaker 1: portrayed largely as a sympathetic character. Kenneth Roberts was a 80 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,840 Speaker 1: popular writer of historical fiction in the first half of 81 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: the twentieth century. He wrote a couple of books focusing 82 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: not on Arnold's eventual treachery but his earlier military daring 83 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 1: do But my mom latched onto this with a vengeance 84 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:28,239 Speaker 1: because it just appealed to her, being against the grain 85 00:06:28,360 --> 00:06:32,280 Speaker 1: of most people's thinking. Now, I know some of you 86 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: may be thinking focusing on Benedict Arnold's early heroics for 87 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: this episode is kind of like talking about how great 88 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:42,719 Speaker 1: Richard Nixon was for creating the e p A without 89 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:46,919 Speaker 1: mentioning Watergate. But Nixon was kind of great for creating 90 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:50,160 Speaker 1: the E p A. People are complicated, get over it. 91 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: Don't worry. We'll get to Arnold's betrayal in the third act. 92 00:06:53,880 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: But first, what kind of a family did Benedict Donold 93 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:01,679 Speaker 1: come from? He came from a large, lead dysfunctional family 94 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: of a family that was living in the shadow of 95 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:10,000 Speaker 1: their forebears. Those forbears were also named Benedict Arnold. Our 96 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: protagonist was the fourth born in seventy. Arnold's great grandfather, 97 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: the first Benedict, was a governor of the Rhode Island Colony. 98 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:22,920 Speaker 1: But after Arnold's father left Rhode Island to start a 99 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:28,240 Speaker 1: life in Norwich, Connecticut, multiple tragedy struck. Four of Benedict 100 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: Arnold's five siblings died before the age of ten. Benedict 101 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:36,200 Speaker 1: Arnold and his sister Hannah would be the only survivors, 102 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:39,760 Speaker 1: and his father went to drinking and Arnold his later 103 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: life I think would be kind of a repudiation of 104 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:45,400 Speaker 1: his difficult childhood because he had a chip on his 105 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:49,360 Speaker 1: shoulders from the very beginning, and he wanted to make 106 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:53,120 Speaker 1: something of himself, because I think he had this sense 107 00:07:53,360 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: of coming from a place of shame. After a seven 108 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:04,440 Speaker 1: year apprenticeship with an apothecary, he started his own pharmacy 109 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: and bookselling business in New Haven. He was doing okay, 110 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:14,120 Speaker 1: but young Benedict had long craved adventure. He wanted to 111 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: be the person that he idealized the swashbuckling man of action, 112 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:22,280 Speaker 1: and physically he was fearless, you know, he was a 113 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: kind of athlete. One person described him as the best 114 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 1: skater he had ever seen skater as an ice skater. Yeah, 115 00:08:30,040 --> 00:08:33,920 Speaker 1: it's a funny observation. But there are several anecdotes about 116 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:38,360 Speaker 1: his youth that he was a daredevil. There was a 117 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:42,320 Speaker 1: water mill in Norwich and he would grab onto the 118 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:45,560 Speaker 1: water wheel, rided all the way up and then dive 119 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 1: off into the stream. He was not a big guy, 120 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:51,280 Speaker 1: but one of those guys with that kind of athletes 121 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 1: swagger and built very solidly, and someone who could intimidate 122 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,840 Speaker 1: other people, not only in terms of yelling at them, 123 00:09:00,240 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: you know, just his physical presence. It's funny because you 124 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:07,080 Speaker 1: write that he claimed he was a coward until fifteen 125 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 1: years of age. He said that his bravery was learned, 126 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:14,119 Speaker 1: and so, according to his own account, at about fifteen, 127 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: you know, which is a time in life when all 128 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: sorts of stuff is usually happening in the life of 129 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: a teenager, he made this decision, I'm going to be 130 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: a badass, and that's what he would be. By the 131 00:09:25,760 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: time Arnold was in his twenties, he had taken to 132 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:33,080 Speaker 1: the high seas a successful merchant, captaining his own ships, 133 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: sailing as far south as the Caribbean and as far 134 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: north as Canada. He began to build what would be, 135 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,360 Speaker 1: if he had ever finished it, the most opulent house 136 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:44,760 Speaker 1: in New Haven. Who was a man on the make, 137 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 1: a man to be admired, and a budding patriot. When 138 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:52,440 Speaker 1: the British wanted to tax the Americans without giving them 139 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:56,360 Speaker 1: representation in Parliament, you remember all of that, Arnold found 140 00:09:56,360 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 1: a cause he could fight for. He became a smuggler, 141 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 1: rating his businesses in open defiance of the British tariffs. 142 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: He joined the Sons of Liberty, the secretive group that 143 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 1: carried out the Boston Tea Party. Then on the morning 144 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: of April nineteenth, seventeen seventy five, the British fired on 145 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:19,560 Speaker 1: colonial militiamen at Lexington. The Revolutionary War had begun, and 146 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:25,040 Speaker 1: Benedict Arnold lapped into action. When I heard about Lexington conquered, 147 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: he led a group right to the Boston area. You know, 148 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:31,440 Speaker 1: getting on a horse and riding around and giving orders 149 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:34,560 Speaker 1: was exactly the kind of thing. Ben MacDonald was wired 150 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: for his years as a merchant and a Mariner had 151 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:41,200 Speaker 1: prepared him well for this moment, and because of his 152 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 1: knowledge of the geography of New England and Canada, he 153 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:51,200 Speaker 1: realizes that strategically, the Americans need to have control of 154 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:57,120 Speaker 1: Lake Champlain. Lake Champlain wasn't just a crucial waterway just 155 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 1: to its south, stood for ty con To Roga with 156 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: more than sixty cannons firepower that George Washington's Continental Army 157 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:09,440 Speaker 1: desperately needed. So he proposed to the powers that be 158 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:13,520 Speaker 1: in Boston that they take Fort Ticonda Roga, a kind 159 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: of extraordinarily aggressive move, but the Powers that Be agreed 160 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: with him and gave him a commission to go up there. 161 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:23,280 Speaker 1: At off he would go, leading one of the most 162 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:27,359 Speaker 1: important military actions of the beginning of the American Revolution. 163 00:11:28,800 --> 00:11:31,840 Speaker 1: Arnold took Fort Ticonda Roga, though he had to share 164 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,040 Speaker 1: credit with Vermont or Ethan Allen. Yes, Ethan Allen was 165 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 1: a real person, not just the name of a furniture company. 166 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:42,400 Speaker 1: Neither man liked sharing credit, but soon Arnold would surpass 167 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:46,200 Speaker 1: Allen in heroics with an audacious attempt to capture the 168 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: British Canadian province of Quebec and make it our fourteenth colony. 169 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:55,200 Speaker 1: This involved a legendary and brutal three hundred fifty mile 170 00:11:55,320 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 1: trek through the wilderness of Maine. It was the fall 171 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: of seventeen seventy five. The weather was getting bad, but 172 00:12:03,559 --> 00:12:06,680 Speaker 1: Arnold was all for it, and Washington, who was impressed 173 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:11,199 Speaker 1: by Arnold, sent him on this desperate journey through the wilderness. 174 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:14,960 Speaker 1: Almost half the men would desert or die or starve. 175 00:12:15,679 --> 00:12:19,000 Speaker 1: It was just one of these incredible tests of endurance, 176 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:22,720 Speaker 1: but somehow Arnold would make it and be dubbed the 177 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:26,120 Speaker 1: American Hannibal. I traced his route through there, and that 178 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:29,040 Speaker 1: part of Maine is still so remote that just about 179 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:31,320 Speaker 1: every road you see has Arnold on it, as if 180 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:33,720 Speaker 1: he was. About the last time anyone was up there 181 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:36,640 Speaker 1: was when Arnold went up there during the American Revolution. 182 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:40,400 Speaker 1: Are you serious that their roads still named after him? Yeah, 183 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:42,960 Speaker 1: They're a part of the landscape up there in the 184 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: wilds of Maine. You can see tangible evidence of Arnold's 185 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:51,079 Speaker 1: bravery and adventurous ambition. I'm thinking these areas are so 186 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 1: remote they still haven't heard about the betrayal that happened 187 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:59,160 Speaker 1: later on, hasn't, right, it's still news. Yeah. The Siege 188 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,960 Speaker 1: of Quebec all timidly failed. Arnold's left leg was shattered 189 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: in battle and the Americans retreated. But Arnold's actions helped 190 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:09,960 Speaker 1: slow the British down, and for his valor he was 191 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:14,319 Speaker 1: made a brigadier general. George Washington praised him as a 192 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:18,520 Speaker 1: persevering and enterprising officer. In some ways, was he a 193 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 1: more talented general than George Washington? Judged by the evidence, yes, 194 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:26,600 Speaker 1: I think you'd have to say that. And the thing is, 195 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 1: Benedict Arnold knew he was that good. The brash confidence 196 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: that made him a hero on the battlefield was matched 197 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:37,480 Speaker 1: by an arrogance off of it. What did Arnold's men 198 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 1: think of him in the midst of battle? They loved Arnold. 199 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 1: He was someone who, in the heat of the moment, 200 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:52,319 Speaker 1: behaved with a quiet calm and yet a forceful, inspiring charisma. 201 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:56,360 Speaker 1: The trouble with Arnold occurred after the battle. You know, 202 00:13:56,440 --> 00:14:00,960 Speaker 1: he was prickly. He could be completely condescending and judgmentel. 203 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:05,080 Speaker 1: He did not brook any kind of what he perceived 204 00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:09,120 Speaker 1: as incompetence, and as a consequence, there were just as 205 00:14:09,160 --> 00:14:12,960 Speaker 1: many people who despised the man. And when I say despise, 206 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:16,320 Speaker 1: I mean they hated him. There's two reactions, and there's 207 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:18,960 Speaker 1: no one that seems in between. You either love the 208 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,840 Speaker 1: man or you despise him. Someone who despised Arnold early 209 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:26,600 Speaker 1: on was a militiaman named John Brown. No, not the 210 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:30,720 Speaker 1: nineteenth century abolitionist. This John Brown was part of the 211 00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:35,000 Speaker 1: force that had seized for Takonta Roga. Soon after that, 212 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: he accused Arnold of attempting to defect during that battle. 213 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,640 Speaker 1: Arnold was cleared to that allegation, but Brown would go 214 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: on to write in a pamphlet words about Arnold that 215 00:14:45,840 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 1: proved prophetic quote. Money is this man's God, and to 216 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:57,400 Speaker 1: get enough of it he would sacrifice his country. We'll 217 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: continue with the story of Benedict Arnold on the other 218 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: side of the break, but first, before they went bad, 219 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:10,640 Speaker 1: Philippe Petan. During World War Two, Francis Philippe Petan betrayed 220 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:15,440 Speaker 1: his country by collaborating with Nazi Germany. The German juggernaut 221 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,640 Speaker 1: rolls on on to Dunkirk, on to Paris. After Hitler's 222 00:15:19,720 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 1: Germany seized France in nineteen forty, Petan was appointed head 223 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:28,760 Speaker 1: of the nominally independent French state known as v she France. 224 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:33,080 Speaker 1: He soon proclaimed that collaborating with Hitler was the only 225 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 1: way to repair the ruin caused by Germany's conquest of France. 226 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 1: I say, obviously, actually John the accipi. The French puppet 227 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 1: government put up no significant resistance to Nazi demands and 228 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:57,880 Speaker 1: voluntarily implemented anti Jewish legislation, even rounding up Jews. Over 229 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:02,160 Speaker 1: seventy five thousand French Jews would die in the Holocaust. 230 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:08,800 Speaker 1: Payton's very name became a byword for collaborationist quizzlings, which 231 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 1: is quite the turn for someone whose first act was 232 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:17,000 Speaker 1: so honorable. As an army general in World War One, 233 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:21,960 Speaker 1: Payton was in charge of halting the seemingly unstoppable German 234 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:25,120 Speaker 1: offensive on the French city of their Done over what 235 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,680 Speaker 1: would be the longest and most brutal battle of the war. 236 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: Initially pneumoniaus stricken and commanding troops from his sick bed, 237 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:39,200 Speaker 1: Payton skillfully reorganized the French front line, made innovative use 238 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 1: of artillery, and inspired his demoralized and outnumbered rank and 239 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 1: file Miraculously verdon held Pathan emerged a national hero and 240 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: was awarded the title of Martial, one of France's highest 241 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: military distinctions. Three decades later, the story was much different. 242 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:05,440 Speaker 1: This is the Pali de Justice, where peta marshal of 243 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,679 Speaker 1: France and Hiro Verda, is on trial for his life 244 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: on charges of plotting against the internal security of his 245 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:17,879 Speaker 1: country and collaboration with the enemy. After Payton's conviction for 246 00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 1: treason in French, leader Charles de gaul is said to 247 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:26,479 Speaker 1: have remarked, the Marshal is a great man who died 248 00:17:26,720 --> 00:17:44,280 Speaker 1: in ninety five. I think we forget how frightening a 249 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:48,960 Speaker 1: revolution is. The whole underpinnings of what was your life 250 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:53,880 Speaker 1: have been ripped apart, and suddenly you have to make 251 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,520 Speaker 1: decisions about a future that you have no idea where 252 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:02,480 Speaker 1: it is headed. And so I had sympathies for loyalists 253 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:07,760 Speaker 1: and patriots. That's historian Nathaniel Philbrick again. He says that 254 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,560 Speaker 1: throughout the revolution the colonists were a lot more divided 255 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:14,280 Speaker 1: than we might like to imagine. I don't know what 256 00:18:14,440 --> 00:18:17,400 Speaker 1: I would have been. You know, I love my country, 257 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:20,720 Speaker 1: I love America. Basically, they are a third of the 258 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:24,040 Speaker 1: Americans are definitely in the patriot cause, and the third 259 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:26,479 Speaker 1: of the Americans are loyalists. To say, you know, why 260 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 1: are we having a revolution? We are the freest, most 261 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 1: prosperous society on earth. What is wrong with this picture? 262 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:38,359 Speaker 1: And then there's the other third who really don't care. 263 00:18:38,560 --> 00:18:43,320 Speaker 1: They just want to live their lives. Remember, this is 264 00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:46,920 Speaker 1: three years into a war with Great Britain and Empire, 265 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:50,919 Speaker 1: with vast resources at its disposal. It's really no wonder 266 00:18:51,040 --> 00:18:53,880 Speaker 1: that there were lots of colonists who thought the British 267 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:58,919 Speaker 1: would ultimately prevail. But early in the Revolution, Benedict Arnold 268 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:03,879 Speaker 1: continued to prove himself a patriot on land and see. 269 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:07,560 Speaker 1: In the fall of seventeen seventy six, at the Battle 270 00:19:07,600 --> 00:19:12,359 Speaker 1: of Valker Island, Arnold commanded America's first naval force. He 271 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: supervised the construction of part of the fleet, and while 272 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:20,000 Speaker 1: the British won that battle, Arnold successfully stalled them long 273 00:19:20,119 --> 00:19:23,960 Speaker 1: enough to prevent a larger incursion. He is clearly the 274 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:29,080 Speaker 1: most talented general on Washington's staff, and he's up for promotion. 275 00:19:29,760 --> 00:19:33,199 Speaker 1: At this point, Arnold was a brigadier general looking to 276 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,920 Speaker 1: become a major general, but due to the Continental congress 277 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:41,160 Speaker 1: As rules on military promotions, a bunch of lesser generals 278 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: kept getting promoted past Arnold. Arnold had an important friend 279 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:49,040 Speaker 1: in George Washington, though, who very much disapproved of Congress 280 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:52,960 Speaker 1: passing him over. Washington couldn't believe that this had happened. 281 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:57,159 Speaker 1: He told Arnold, please hold on, I'll check into this. 282 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:01,280 Speaker 1: But Washington's please on, behalf of arn Old went nowhere. 283 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:05,000 Speaker 1: For a military guy, it's all about the rank, and 284 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:08,640 Speaker 1: here five people who were below him and who had 285 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:12,520 Speaker 1: had shown none of his talent and abilities had been 286 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 1: elevated past him. Arnold finally did get his promotion after 287 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:19,920 Speaker 1: getting his horse shot from under him twice at the 288 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,360 Speaker 1: Battle of Ridgefield, but the damage to his ego had 289 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:27,040 Speaker 1: been done. By the time of his heroics at Saratoga, 290 00:20:27,200 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: where we began this episode, Arnold was already embittered. It 291 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 1: didn't help that at Saratoga his leg was crushed after 292 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:38,760 Speaker 1: his horse was again shot from under him. Being Benedict 293 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,840 Speaker 1: Donald's force was apparently the most dangerous job during the 294 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:48,040 Speaker 1: American Revolution. During his long recovery, Benedict Arnold brooded and 295 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:52,320 Speaker 1: seethed over the credit he hadn't been given. And so 296 00:20:52,680 --> 00:20:56,520 Speaker 1: this is where the demons begin to whisper in Arnold's ear, 297 00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:01,200 Speaker 1: why are you doing this? In seventy eight, George Washington 298 00:21:01,320 --> 00:21:06,920 Speaker 1: made the now physically compromised general the military governor of Philadelphia. 299 00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: But the city of brotherly love was in a state 300 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:14,960 Speaker 1: of near civil war, fiercely divided between patriots and loyalists. 301 00:21:15,520 --> 00:21:18,920 Speaker 1: You needed someone of great compassion and judgment to try 302 00:21:18,960 --> 00:21:22,280 Speaker 1: to keep a lid on this. That was not Arnold. 303 00:21:22,400 --> 00:21:26,040 Speaker 1: It was the worst possible situation. So Washington, trying to 304 00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:29,520 Speaker 1: do as well by him as as he could, I think, 305 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:33,280 Speaker 1: actually put Arnold in the position that would lead him 306 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:36,160 Speaker 1: down the road that he would eventually followed to treason. 307 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: Philadelphia wasn't just politically riven, it was a hotbed of corruption. 308 00:21:42,040 --> 00:21:47,240 Speaker 1: Opportunities for profiteering abounded. Benedict Arnold, who had left a 309 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:50,199 Speaker 1: lucrative business behind to take part in the war, who 310 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:52,359 Speaker 1: had spent much of his own fortune in the fight, 311 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:56,320 Speaker 1: and who felt unthanked for his sacrifice, was not about 312 00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:00,320 Speaker 1: to hold back. He thrust his hands into the into 313 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:04,600 Speaker 1: the treasury and through the till exactly and starts taking 314 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:08,720 Speaker 1: advantage of every opportunity he can. And he's not the 315 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:12,399 Speaker 1: only general doing this. I mean, all of these officers 316 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:15,720 Speaker 1: aren't getting paid and they're running out of money, But 317 00:22:15,880 --> 00:22:19,679 Speaker 1: no one goes at it with the fervor of Benedict Donald. 318 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:23,960 Speaker 1: It's a volatile situation just looking to explode. At the 319 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,280 Speaker 1: same time he's lining his own pockets. Arnold begins cozying 320 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:33,679 Speaker 1: up with Philadelphia's British loyalist set and meets Peggy Shipping, 321 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 1: the daughter of a prominent family suspected of loyalist leanings, 322 00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:43,520 Speaker 1: and falls desperately in love with her. Arnold is older 323 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:47,480 Speaker 1: than she is. Arnold's approaching forty. He's injured, but in 324 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:51,439 Speaker 1: kind of a sexy way. His left leg is shorter 325 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:54,119 Speaker 1: than the right, he has to put it up on 326 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:57,240 Speaker 1: a chair and all that, but he's resplendent in his 327 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:01,879 Speaker 1: major general's uniform and they have fallen love. One of 328 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:05,560 Speaker 1: the ways Arnold woos her he reuses parts of a 329 00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:08,800 Speaker 1: love letter he wrote to someone else. He thought the 330 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:12,639 Speaker 1: letter was pretty darn good because he would basically reuse 331 00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: the entire paragraphs, if not pages, of this letter when 332 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:19,639 Speaker 1: he sent it to Peggy, cutting and pasting a mash note. 333 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:22,200 Speaker 1: I know he's really starting to sound like a jerk, 334 00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:25,600 Speaker 1: and I think this is an index to character. You know, 335 00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: he has social ambitions, he has romantic conditions, but you 336 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:31,800 Speaker 1: know there's no need to get too carried away here. 337 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:33,919 Speaker 1: If you did a good job the first time, you 338 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:37,480 Speaker 1: can reuse it. You know, there's a certain utility there. Now. 339 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:42,040 Speaker 1: It's not entirely clear what role Peggy plays in Arnold's betrayal, 340 00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 1: but she had long maintained a correspondence with a British 341 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:49,760 Speaker 1: spy named John Andre and only a month after marrying 342 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:54,360 Speaker 1: Peggy Benedict Arnold makes his first contact with the British 343 00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:59,920 Speaker 1: Army and they begin a secret correspondence in which Arnold 344 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:04,600 Speaker 1: begins feeding them information about what's happening on the Patriot 345 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:09,119 Speaker 1: side while also negotiating a very good settlement. If he 346 00:24:09,119 --> 00:24:12,000 Speaker 1: should actually be of some use to the British, is 347 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:16,840 Speaker 1: he putting men in mortal danger? Absolutely, he is feeding 348 00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:21,840 Speaker 1: information about troop movements. He informs the British that the 349 00:24:21,880 --> 00:24:26,520 Speaker 1: Americans are woefully under manned in Charleston, South Carolina, that 350 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:30,000 Speaker 1: Washington is unable to get the arms and men they 351 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 1: need to defend that city. At the same time that 352 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 1: this is happening, Arnold stands trial in a military court 353 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:41,240 Speaker 1: for his profiteering activities. The court martial trial results in 354 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:43,920 Speaker 1: a slap on the wrist for Arnold, but and this 355 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:48,159 Speaker 1: is important. Under pressure from Congress General Washington for the 356 00:24:48,200 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 1: first time ever publicly rebukes Benedict Arnold. After this, there 357 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:58,119 Speaker 1: is no turning back for Arnold, and I think Washington 358 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:03,159 Speaker 1: was the one figure that was keeping him potentially in 359 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:08,160 Speaker 1: the Patriot camp. In the summer of sev Arnold asks 360 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:13,399 Speaker 1: for command of the strategic stronghold of West Point. Washington 361 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:17,440 Speaker 1: still a believer in Benedict Arnold. Despite that, court martial 362 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:22,280 Speaker 1: says yes, west Point became the locusts for the most 363 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:27,160 Speaker 1: infamous betrayal in American history. Could he have gotten George 364 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: Washington killed? Yeah, he could have. I mean, this is 365 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:35,240 Speaker 1: a psychopath. This is someone who really doesn't care what 366 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 1: ultimately will happen to those he at one time loved, 367 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:45,280 Speaker 1: if not revered. Benedict Arnold breaks bad after the break, 368 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:53,600 Speaker 1: but first before they went bad. Peanuts banned from schools, 369 00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:57,440 Speaker 1: kicked off of airplanes. In recent years, it hasn't been 370 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:03,600 Speaker 1: smooth sailing for America's formerly favorite snack. E er Visits 371 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,320 Speaker 1: among kids from food induced anaphylaxis have been on the 372 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,080 Speaker 1: rise for years, and the proteins found in peanuts are 373 00:26:11,119 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 1: the biggest culprit. Indeed, because of allergies. Some schools have 374 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 1: declared themselves peanut free zones, and some airlines have put 375 00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 1: peanuts on the no fly list. Quite a reversal of 376 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:28,639 Speaker 1: fortune for a snack with a proud history. Native to 377 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:32,440 Speaker 1: the Andes, peanuts were offered by Incas as a sacrifice 378 00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:36,680 Speaker 1: to the gods. Over the centuries, peanuts would become staples 379 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: in cuisines throughout Southeast Asia and India. Enslaved Africans were 380 00:26:42,080 --> 00:26:45,359 Speaker 1: the first to bring peanuts to North America. In both 381 00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:49,159 Speaker 1: Africa and America, peanuts were an important part of their diet. 382 00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:54,399 Speaker 1: Wealthier white Americans initially used peanuts primarily for animal feed, 383 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,119 Speaker 1: but by the late eighteen hundreds, the peanut had become 384 00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:02,720 Speaker 1: a popular snack. P. T. Barnum started selling hot roasted 385 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:06,960 Speaker 1: peanuts in his circus tents. On the sports front, peanuts 386 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:10,200 Speaker 1: became one of the go to snacks for baseball bands. 387 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:16,480 Speaker 1: Take me out with the braun, peanuts and bragg. I 388 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:21,399 Speaker 1: don't carry if I never get Meanwhile, on the scientific front, 389 00:27:21,800 --> 00:27:25,399 Speaker 1: George Washington Carver, the first African American to hold a 390 00:27:25,520 --> 00:27:29,879 Speaker 1: master's in agricultural science, pioneered the use of peanuts to 391 00:27:29,960 --> 00:27:33,600 Speaker 1: restore nitrogen to soil depleted from the growing of cotton. 392 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:38,840 Speaker 1: Peanuts were a hit, and not just with people. In 393 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,400 Speaker 1: A boy named Elliott used a trail of peanut butter 394 00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: candies to lure an extraterrestrial out of hiding and into 395 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:55,720 Speaker 1: his home. But once peanut allergies began exploding in the 396 00:27:55,760 --> 00:28:00,640 Speaker 1: mid nine nineties, things got sticky. Planters killed off Mr 397 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:10,919 Speaker 1: Peanut in a Super Bowl commercial. Right, maybe that, but 398 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:15,280 Speaker 1: the peanuts future may not be so brittle. That's the 399 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 1: best I can come up with. An increasing number of 400 00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:22,520 Speaker 1: experts are suggesting that schools relax their restriction on peanuts, 401 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: and in the FDA approved a drug regimen to treat 402 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 1: peanut allergies. Maybe that's why later in that same Super Bowl, 403 00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:35,879 Speaker 1: Planter has brought Mr Peanut back, has a baby? Is 404 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:41,880 Speaker 1: that a baby nut? Ps? A peanut isn't actually a nut, 405 00:28:42,560 --> 00:28:52,720 Speaker 1: it's a legume. I think Washington saw a lot of 406 00:28:52,800 --> 00:29:00,440 Speaker 1: himself in Benedicdonald. I'm talking with historian Nathaniel Philbrick. Temperamentally funded, mentally, 407 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:04,120 Speaker 1: George Washington was a lot like benned Iccdonald if he 408 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:10,400 Speaker 1: had not consciously changed his behavior. Philbrook says George Washington 409 00:29:10,680 --> 00:29:13,800 Speaker 1: had been a hothead and impulsive in his younger days, 410 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: but as he got older he figured out how to 411 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 1: manage his anger. He consciously strove to be someone he 412 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,400 Speaker 1: naturally was, which is an extraordinary characteristic. I think most 413 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:27,760 Speaker 1: of us are who we are and there's not much 414 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:30,560 Speaker 1: we can do about it. And Arnold was that kind. 415 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 1: There was no filter with Arnold, no ability to step 416 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 1: back and say, wait a minute, you know, get Ahold 417 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:39,440 Speaker 1: of your anger. Here you see Washington doing that all 418 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 1: the time. Arnold was incapable of that kind of filter. 419 00:29:43,320 --> 00:29:46,800 Speaker 1: He was who he was and who Benedict Arnold was 420 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:49,720 Speaker 1: in the fall of seventeen eighty was the commander of 421 00:29:49,800 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: West Point, a vital defense for the Patriots and a 422 00:29:53,600 --> 00:30:07,360 Speaker 1: bargaining chip for Arnold. September, The Treason of Benedict Arnold, 423 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:18,920 Speaker 1: You Are There. In one episode of CBS's seminal historical 424 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:24,280 Speaker 1: reenactment series You Are There, host Walter Cronkite explained the stakes. 425 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:28,320 Speaker 1: For five long years, the rebellious American colonies have been 426 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:32,360 Speaker 1: fighting a desperate, defensive war. If the British forces now 427 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,880 Speaker 1: occupy New York City were to strike northward, uniting with 428 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: British forces coming down from Canada. They could divide New 429 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:42,960 Speaker 1: England from the southern colonies, cut the Americans in half, 430 00:30:43,240 --> 00:30:46,320 Speaker 1: and conquer each half separately. But in order to do 431 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,440 Speaker 1: that they must take the Hudson Valley, and in order 432 00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:52,880 Speaker 1: to do that, they must first capture the American stronghold 433 00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: on the River, the strategic center of the rebellion, the 434 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:59,120 Speaker 1: forts at West Point. All things are as they were then, 435 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:03,920 Speaker 1: except you are there. Can I just say I wish 436 00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: I could call on Walter Cronkite to set the stage 437 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,720 Speaker 1: for me on every historical turning point. In the special, 438 00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:14,160 Speaker 1: we watch as Arnold welcomes a British spy named John Andre. 439 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:18,000 Speaker 1: He's the one Arnold's young wife Peggy had introduced him to. 440 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,840 Speaker 1: Who's how smain that of a friend of his Majesty 441 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:26,360 Speaker 1: and his Majesty's parlam Arnold reviews the terms of their 442 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 1: devilish deal about let us to business. Twenty pounds was 443 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 1: the agreement equivalent rank and the British Army while the 444 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:38,160 Speaker 1: war continues, and half pay when it is concluded, military 445 00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 1: commissions for my sons and a pension in London for 446 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:45,520 Speaker 1: Mrs Arnold. In other words, the Brits would pay Arnold 447 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:49,520 Speaker 1: twenty thousand pounds and make him a commander in their 448 00:31:49,640 --> 00:31:54,360 Speaker 1: army in exchange for West Point. What's more, Arnold told 449 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:57,800 Speaker 1: the British when George Washington would be present at the fort, 450 00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:02,600 Speaker 1: putting his former ally, mentor and supporter in mortal danger. 451 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,479 Speaker 1: On the way out the door, John Andre refuses to 452 00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:11,360 Speaker 1: shake Benedict Arnold's hand. You refuse my handswer, and yet 453 00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,680 Speaker 1: you are in this as deeply as I am. I 454 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:16,959 Speaker 1: am a soldier honoring a trust. You are a soldier 455 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:21,440 Speaker 1: betraying one. I hope, sir, you recognize the difference. That 456 00:32:21,560 --> 00:32:24,560 Speaker 1: response from Andre is what the kids today call a 457 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:28,640 Speaker 1: pretty sick burn. It's also a bit of dramatic license 458 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,600 Speaker 1: from the you are their producers, but it gets at 459 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:35,880 Speaker 1: an important distinction between the two men. John Andrea was 460 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:40,280 Speaker 1: loyal to something, in his case, the Crown. Arnold was 461 00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:45,800 Speaker 1: just a turn coat. Now, Benedict Arnold's plan almost works, 462 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 1: but long story short, Andre is intercepted by three Patriot militiamen. 463 00:32:51,960 --> 00:32:55,720 Speaker 1: They discover the deal's plans and take him prisoner. When 464 00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:57,920 Speaker 1: the word gets back to Arnold, he makes a run 465 00:32:57,960 --> 00:33:01,360 Speaker 1: for it and narrowly escapes a or the British warship 466 00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:06,880 Speaker 1: fittingly named the HMS Vulture. John Andre is hanged as 467 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:11,280 Speaker 1: a spy on the banks of the Hudson River, and 468 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:17,680 Speaker 1: American officers and British officers alike mourned Andrea's passing, viewed 469 00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:23,720 Speaker 1: him as the victim of Arnold's betrayal. Arnold starts a 470 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:26,800 Speaker 1: new life as a brigadier general in the British Army. 471 00:33:27,360 --> 00:33:30,760 Speaker 1: He leads attacks on towns in Virginia and Connecticut that 472 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:35,280 Speaker 1: leave them devastated, but make a little difference militarily. Of course, 473 00:33:35,320 --> 00:33:38,520 Speaker 1: as we all know, the British ultimately lose the war. 474 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:43,160 Speaker 1: Arnold receives only a fraction of the agreed upon some 475 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:47,000 Speaker 1: for his betrayal, since the plot to surrender West Point failed. 476 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:50,920 Speaker 1: That's right, he didn't even succeed in selling himself out. 477 00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:56,480 Speaker 1: How did Americans react to the news of his treason? 478 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,160 Speaker 1: This was I think incredible wake up call for the 479 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: American people. You know, they had spent all these years 480 00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:09,880 Speaker 1: fighting the British, only to discover that the real threat 481 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:14,320 Speaker 1: is not the British but ourselves. This is a test 482 00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:18,920 Speaker 1: of character, This is a test of our ability to 483 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:24,319 Speaker 1: function as an alternative to Great Britain, and are we 484 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,000 Speaker 1: up to this? Just a year after the betrayal came 485 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:32,080 Speaker 1: to light, the Americans are victorious in the Battle of Yorktown, 486 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:38,000 Speaker 1: the last major conflict of the Revolutionary War. Arnold tried 487 00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:41,600 Speaker 1: to frame his defection as a noble cause in an 488 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 1: open letter he wrote to the American public, but his 489 00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:50,920 Speaker 1: name was ruined. American General Nathaniel Green lined Arnold's treason 490 00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:54,840 Speaker 1: to the fall of Lucifer. Ben Franklin compared him to 491 00:34:54,960 --> 00:35:00,279 Speaker 1: Judas and George Washington, once his greatest champion, or judge 492 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:04,360 Speaker 1: his men to hang Benedict Donald if they ever captured him. 493 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:08,760 Speaker 1: Arnold was burned in effigy in Philadelphia and in cities 494 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:12,840 Speaker 1: and towns up and down the Atlantic seaboard. The graves 495 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:17,680 Speaker 1: of his father were violated by the angry citizens of Norwich. 496 00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:21,640 Speaker 1: He became a figure as archetypal in his own way, 497 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:27,319 Speaker 1: as Washington of an evil incarnate of the trader of 498 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 1: the Rock within the rock with it exactly, and I 499 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:35,440 Speaker 1: think a troubling figure two, because everyone had to acknowledge 500 00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:39,439 Speaker 1: he was one of our best. As Washington would say 501 00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:45,640 Speaker 1: when he first heard, whom can we trust? Now. Arnold 502 00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:49,600 Speaker 1: lived out his final days in disrepute in London, and 503 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:53,880 Speaker 1: after a long battle with gout, died June fourteenth, eighteen 504 00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:59,880 Speaker 1: o one. He was buried without military honors at sarah 505 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:04,319 Speaker 1: Toga National Historical Park, site of perhaps his greatest feat 506 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:09,239 Speaker 1: of heroism. There's a monument dedicated to Benedict Arnold. It's 507 00:36:09,239 --> 00:36:13,080 Speaker 1: a boot carved from stone, representing the leg he injured 508 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:17,680 Speaker 1: in service of the Revolution. The monument describes a brilliant 509 00:36:17,760 --> 00:36:23,400 Speaker 1: soldier who was desperately wounded in the decisive battle at Saratoga, 510 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:29,240 Speaker 1: but it doesn't bear his name. He has been written 511 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:33,960 Speaker 1: out of the scriptures of America. That boot is the 512 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:39,600 Speaker 1: only thing left of Arnold worth respecting. We leave you 513 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:45,640 Speaker 1: now with one final installment of Before They Went Bad, Satan, 514 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:53,239 Speaker 1: get the behind me, Satan, let's face it. Satan has 515 00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:55,879 Speaker 1: an image problem when blamed for the fall of man 516 00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:58,919 Speaker 1: gets laid at your feet. That can happen, but let's 517 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:02,400 Speaker 1: give the devil his you. Before descending into hell and 518 00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:08,640 Speaker 1: getting branded lord of the underworld, Satan was riding high 519 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:12,920 Speaker 1: as an angel in heaven. He had fame, wisdom, authority, 520 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:16,800 Speaker 1: and power, and he was great looking. The poet John 521 00:37:16,840 --> 00:37:20,680 Speaker 1: Milton describes a being with hair that bristles like the 522 00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:25,040 Speaker 1: tail of a comet. In fact, Satan's alias Lucifer means 523 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:29,560 Speaker 1: light bringer. But Satan became blinded by that light, grew 524 00:37:29,600 --> 00:37:33,160 Speaker 1: resentful of God, and began viewing himself as an equal 525 00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:37,239 Speaker 1: to God. Is it possible that Satan loved God too much? 526 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:41,080 Speaker 1: Was he actually jealous of God's love for those far 527 00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:46,239 Speaker 1: less perfect beings known as humans? Some believe so. Regardless, 528 00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:50,520 Speaker 1: Satan's designs didn't endear him to his creator, who kicked 529 00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:53,880 Speaker 1: him out of the house and down into Hell. In time, 530 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:58,040 Speaker 1: Satan reinvented himself and began a fruitful career of leading 531 00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:02,080 Speaker 1: us into temptation. Here he is slithering around Eden in 532 00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:05,920 Speaker 1: a video series from the people behind the popular Beginner's Bible. 533 00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:11,760 Speaker 1: It's nice food, isn't it. Why not give it a shot? 534 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:19,800 Speaker 1: Just a tiny, tiny key. God probably won't even notice. 535 00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:24,600 Speaker 1: Satan has always made for great reading material. He gets 536 00:38:24,719 --> 00:38:27,880 Speaker 1: name checked fifty six times, and the King James Bible 537 00:38:28,280 --> 00:38:32,560 Speaker 1: is the unlikely protagonist of Milton's Paradise Lost, in which 538 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:36,360 Speaker 1: he proclaims better to reign and hell than serve in heaven. 539 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:40,160 Speaker 1: He also pops up in Dante's Inferno in the infamous 540 00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,200 Speaker 1: Ninth Circle of Hell frozen into a block of ice. 541 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:46,600 Speaker 1: The story of Satan's fall is a warning to the 542 00:38:46,719 --> 00:38:50,920 Speaker 1: venal and virtuous alike. Disregard your better angels, and you 543 00:38:51,080 --> 00:38:55,359 Speaker 1: too can be in for quite a tumble. So times 544 00:38:55,520 --> 00:39:00,719 Speaker 1: I think we're not recome. We are that there's such 545 00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:04,480 Speaker 1: a big world up there, I'd like to give it 546 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:09,440 Speaker 1: a trung. Now. My favorite modern depiction of Satan comes 547 00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:15,280 Speaker 1: in South Park movie. This Satan is tender and love lorn, 548 00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:21,600 Speaker 1: is emotionally abusive relationship with Saddam Hussein, and badly disenchanted 549 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:24,680 Speaker 1: with the nether world. This Satan longs to quit his 550 00:39:24,800 --> 00:39:53,719 Speaker 1: fiery home and to send to brighter, earthly shores. I 551 00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:56,960 Speaker 1: really hope you enjoyed this mobituary. May I ask all 552 00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,799 Speaker 1: you loyal listeners to please rate and review our or podcast. 553 00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:04,680 Speaker 1: You can also follow Mobituaries on Facebook and Instagram, and 554 00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:07,759 Speaker 1: you can follow me on Twitter at Morocca. Here all 555 00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:12,240 Speaker 1: new episodes of Mobituaries Wednesdays. Wherever you get your podcasts, 556 00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:16,279 Speaker 1: and check out Mobituaries Great Lives Worth Reliving, the New 557 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:20,719 Speaker 1: York Times best selling book Now available in paperback and audiobook. 558 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:24,560 Speaker 1: It includes plenty of stories not in the podcast. This 559 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:29,680 Speaker 1: episode of Mobituaries was produced by Morocca, Jake Harper, Aaron Shrank, 560 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:33,680 Speaker 1: and Wilcome Martinez Cacceto. It was edited by Moral Walls 561 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:37,600 Speaker 1: and engineered by Josh Hahn, with fact checking by Naomi Barr. 562 00:40:37,920 --> 00:40:42,120 Speaker 1: Our production company is Neon Humm Media. Our archival producer 563 00:40:42,239 --> 00:40:45,840 Speaker 1: is Jamie Benson. Our theme music is written by Daniel Hart. 564 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:51,400 Speaker 1: Indispensable support from Craig Swaggler, Dustin Gervei, Alan Peg, Reggie 565 00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:55,840 Speaker 1: Basil and everyone at CBS News Radio. Special thanks to 566 00:40:56,040 --> 00:41:02,280 Speaker 1: Robert Marston, Maureen Dowd, David Dacovny, and Alberto Rebina. The Indubitable. 567 00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:07,080 Speaker 1: Aaron Shrink is our senior producer. Executive producers for Mobituaries 568 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:11,239 Speaker 1: include Steve Raises and Morocca. The series is created by 569 00:41:11,239 --> 00:41:15,000 Speaker 1: Yours Truly and as always, thanks to Rand Morrison and 570 00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:19,400 Speaker 1: John carp for helping breathe life into Mobituaries