Was Benjamin Franklin a fraud?
A founding father investigation with This Guy Sucked
Happy Wednesday Thingers,
Before we get into the episode, a few exciting announcements!
First up, we made an appearance on Monday’s episode of The Tamron Hall Show, where we got to talk about the pod and reviewed some of our favorite debates. You can check out our appearance below. Thank you #TamFam
You can watch part 2 here.
For NST New Yorkers: On March 29 at 12pm, we’re celebrating the release of Manny’s new book, Colored People Time, with an event at Caveat. You can buy tickets here. Hope to see you there!
Technically, the first NST live show! Now onto the episode…
Real Suchers might recall our episode from last May on conspiracy theorists, in which we put a call out to our listeners for their own pet theories. One such submission was that none other than founding father Benjamin Franklin was a scammer taking credit for way more things than he deserved. Friend of the show Rich took umbrage with this, and blew up his personal group-chat with NST. So we had no choice but to put this debate to tape and solve it once and for all.
(Apple, Spotify, YouTube, Others)
With the help of Claire Aubin, historian and host of This Guy Sucked, we investigate the roots of our nation to find out if the esteemed Ben Franklin, face of the $100 bill, is actually all he’s cracked up to be. We dive into how he was able to accomplish so much, what he thought about older women, comparisons to Travis Scott, and what it means to properly evaluate historical icons, separating myth-making from reality.
Related links
Franklin’s “Advice to a Young Man on the Choice of a Mistress” (1745)
His pro-farting manifesto, “Fart Proudly” (1781)
A short piece in TIME from historian Gary Nash on Franklin’s relationship with slavery.
LeBron James high school football highlights. Oh, what could have been…
Special thanks to our debaters for this episode, Kelsey and Rich. Below is a taste of what it’s like to live in Philadelphia.
Let us know what you think in the comments below. Does Benjamin deserve the accolades? Who else deserves a reexamination?
Email us at mannynoahdevan@gmail.com or leave a voicemail at (860) 325-0286.
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