Benjamin Franklin [politics]

Calvin

Welcome to Headstones and Microphones where we use AI to step into the past through a researched, first-person simulation of history's most interesting people. I am your host, Calvin. While we’ve added some creative storytelling, our goal is to inspire your own study of these fascinating lives. Now, let’s meet our guest.

Calvin

I am beyond excited for today’s guest. He’s a scientist, an inventor, a diplomat, and honestly, the list goes on. For those who may somehow not know who you are... who are you?

White Male Guest

In my time, I wore many hats—printer, writer, postmaster, and a bit of a tinkerer with lightning—but most people simply know me as Ben Franklin. I like to think of myself as a man who just never stopped asking "why."

Calvin

A man of many talents indeed! Let’s go back to the very beginning. When and where were you born?

White Male Guest

I arrived on a cold Sunday morning, January 17, 1706, right in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts.

Calvin

And what was your given name at birth?

White Male Guest

Just Benjamin Franklin! Though with sixteen siblings, I was often just "the youngest son."

Calvin

Sixteen siblings! Wow. Is there a story behind your birth name?

White Male Guest

My father, Josiah, named me after his favorite brother, Benjamin, who was quite the clever fellow himself and lived in England. I suppose I had big shoes to fill from day one!

Calvin

What was your hometown like growing up?

White Male Guest

Boston was a bustling, salty seaside town back then. It was filled with the smell of the docks, the sound of church bells, and a lot of very serious-minded people. It was a place of hard work and even harder winters.

Calvin

What was your family life like with that many brothers and sisters?

White Male Guest

It was crowded, noisy, and wonderful! My father was a tallow chandler—he made candles and soap. Our house was always filled with the scent of boiling wax. We weren't wealthy, but my father made sure we always had a "sensible guest" at the dinner table to spark intelligent conversation. That's where I learned to love a good debate.

Calvin

What kind of kid were you?

White Male Guest

I was a bit of a bookworm, I must admit. I would spend what little money I had on books rather than sweets. I was also quite the swimmer; I used to try to find ways to move faster through the water, even experimenting with wooden paddles for my hands and feet!

Calvin

What were your biggest fears growing up?

White Male Guest

My biggest fear was likely the thought of being stuck in a trade that didn't allow me to think or write. My father wanted me to be a minister, then a candle-maker, but my heart just wasn't in the wax vats. I feared a life without books.

Calvin

What did you dream of becoming as a child?

White Male Guest

For a time, I desperately wanted to go to sea. I loved the water and the idea of adventure. My father, however, had seen enough of my older brothers head off to sea never to return, so he stayed firm on keeping me on dry land.

Calvin

What were some of your favorite activities in school?

White Male Guest

I only had two years of formal schooling, can you believe it? But I excelled in reading and writing. Math, on the other hand... well, let’s just say I failed arithmetic quite miserably back then! I had to teach myself the numbers later in life.

Calvin

What was your first job?

White Male Guest

I started out helping my father with the candles—cutting wicks and smelling like fat all day. But my real start was as an apprentice to my brother James in his printing shop. That's where I truly found my calling.

Calvin

Was there a moment where you realized you were different from everyone else?

White Male Guest

I think it was when I realized I could write as well as the men whose papers we were printing. I started writing letters under the pseudonym "Silence Dogood" and slipped them under the door of my brother’s newspaper. Everyone loved them, thinking they were from a wise, witty widow. When I revealed it was just me, a teenager, let's just say my brother wasn't as amused as the public!

Calvin

What’s a decision that changed everything for you, but felt small at the time?

White Male Guest

Leaving Boston for Philadelphia. I was seventeen, had very little money, and was essentially running away from my apprenticeship. I arrived in Philly with nothing but three "great puffy rolls" of bread under my arms. It felt like a desperate move at the time, but it gave me the room to become my own man.

Calvin

What was your biggest break?

White Male Guest

Securing the contract to print the Pennsylvania Gazette. It gave me a platform to share my ideas, my humor, and eventually, the fame that allowed me to pursue science and politics.

Calvin

What were your biggest struggles before success?

White Male Guest

Money was always tight early on. I lived very frugally—eating mainly gruel and water—so I could afford to buy more books and printing supplies. I worked harder than any other printer in town, often wheeling my own paper through the streets in a wheelbarrow just to show people I wasn't above manual labor.

Calvin

Did you ever consider quitting?

White Male Guest

Never! I might have changed direction—moving from printing to science, or from science to diplomacy—but I was always driven by the idea of being "useful." To quit would be to stop being useful, and that just wasn't in my nature.

Calvin

Were there any specific daily habits or routines that you feel are essential to your success?

White Male Guest

Oh, I was a stickler for my "Precepts of Virtue." Every morning at 5:00 AM, I would ask myself, "What good shall I do this day?" and every night before bed, "What good have I done today?" I also took "air baths"—sitting in my room completely naked with the windows open to let the fresh air invigorate my skin. It was quite refreshing!

Calvin

What job would you have had if fame never happened?

White Male Guest

I likely would have remained a very content, very busy printer. There is something so satisfying about the smell of ink and the clacking of a press.

Calvin

What was your life like before fame?

White Male Guest

It was simple. I worked long hours, spent my evenings with my "Junto" club—a group of friends who met to discuss philosophy and morals—and tried to be a good husband to my dear Deborah.

Calvin

How did relationships change after success?

White Male Guest

You find that more people want your time, but you have less of it to give. It took me away from home for many years, especially when I was in London and France. I made incredible friends across the ocean, but I often missed the simple life in Philadelphia.

Calvin

Did fame bring happiness?

White Male Guest

Happiness, to me, came from discovery and service. Fame was simply a tool that made it easier to get things done, like starting a library or a fire department. If I had been famous but useless, I would have been miserable!

Calvin

What was the downside of becoming famous?

White Male Guest

The lack of privacy, certainly. And the fact that people often expected me to be a "sage" all the time. Sometimes, I just wanted to tell a joke or play the glass armonica without it being a "historic event."

Calvin

What misconceptions did people have about you?

White Male Guest

People often thought I was a very somber, serious philosopher. In reality, I loved a good prank, a glass of wine, and a bit of flirtation! I wasn't nearly as stuffy as my portraits might suggest.

Calvin

What was your darkest moment?

White Male Guest

Losing my son, Francis, to smallpox when he was only four years old. I had intended to inoculate him but delayed it. It was a regret I carried forever, and I spent the rest of my life urging others to protect their children.

Calvin

What’s something people misunderstood about your life?

White Male Guest

Some thought I was only interested in money because of "Poor Richard’s Almanack" and all my talk about thrift. But I never patented a single one of my inventions! I believed that as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours.

Calvin

Who had the biggest influence on your life?

White Male Guest

My father, for teaching me the value of honest labor and good conversation. And perhaps Cotton Mather—not for his theology, but for his book "Essays to Do Good," which set my moral compass early on.

Calvin

What was life like in your final years?

White Male Guest

I was back in Philadelphia, surrounded by my grandchildren. I was quite slowed down by gout and a stone in my bladder, which made moving painful, but my mind remained as busy as ever. I spent a lot of time writing my autobiography and working with the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery.

Calvin

What were you working on in your career before you passed away?

White Male Guest

I was very focused on the abolition of slavery. It was my final great cause. I also kept up a massive correspondence with scientists and friends in Europe. I never stopped writing.

Calvin

When and where did you pass away?

White Male Guest

I took my final breath in Philadelphia on April 17, 1790. I was 84 years old.

Calvin

What’s a random fact about you most people have never heard?

White Male Guest

I was an avid chess player! I used to play for hours, sometimes until the sun came up. I even wrote an essay called "The Morals of Chess."

Calvin

What’s the craziest rumor ever told about you?

White Male Guest

That I wanted the national bird of America to be the turkey! While I did write a letter to my daughter saying the turkey was a much more "respectable bird" than the bald eagle—who I called a bird of "bad moral character"—I never officially proposed it for the Great Seal. But it makes for a funny story!

Calvin

What was your most unique habit?

White Male Guest

Aside from my naked air baths? I suppose it was my habit of carrying a hollow walking stick filled with oil, so I could pour it on rough water to see if it would truly "calm the waves." It actually worked!

Calvin

What was your favorite food?

White Male Guest

A simple turkey or a nice piece of salt cod. But if I’m being honest, I had a great love for American cranberries and apples when I was living abroad. I used to have them shipped to me in London!

Calvin

What was your favorite book?

White Male Guest

Aside from "Pilgrim's Progress," which I read over and over as a boy, I was very fond of "Plutarch's Lives."

Calvin

Did you have any known rivalries?

White Male Guest

Oh, certainly! My relationship with my own son, William, became quite bitter because he remained a Loyalist during the Revolution while I was a Patriot. It was a rivalry that broke my heart.

Calvin

Tell us a story nobody talks about.

White Male Guest

Once, while trying to kill a turkey with electricity for a dinner party, I accidentally shocked myself so hard I knocked myself unconscious! I told my friends I meant to kill a turkey and instead almost killed a goose. I was quite embarrassed!

Calvin

Did you ever prank someone?

White Male Guest

Frequently! In my almanac, I once predicted the exact date and hour of the death of a rival philomath named Titus Leeds. When the day came and he didn't die, I insisted in print that he had actually died and that the man claiming to be him was an impostor. It drove him absolutely mad!

Calvin

What was the most outlandish purchase you made?

White Male Guest

I spent a good deal of money on my printing presses, of course, but I also had a very fine set of glass bowls made for my "armonica." It was a musical instrument I invented, and the sound was so ethereal people thought it was played by angels—or that it drove people crazy!

Calvin

What advice would you give people chasing success?

White Male Guest

"Diligence is the mother of good luck." Don't wait for a miracle; work as if everything depends on you, and pray as if everything depends on God. And remember, an investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Calvin

Ben, this has been an absolute honor. Do you have any closing remarks about the interview or the stories you shared that you would like to share with the listeners before signing off?

White Male Guest

Just that I am delighted to see that curiosity is still alive and well in the world! Life is a grand experiment, and I hope you all continue to tinker, to learn, and to be "useful" to one another. Thank you for inviting an old printer back for one more chat!

Calvin

From the "Silence Dogood" letters to the kite and the key, Benjamin Franklin truly lived a thousand lives in one. What a legend! Thank you so much for joining us, Ben. And that wraps up another conversation from beyond the grave. Thanks for joining us on The Headstones and Microphones Podcast. Remember—legends may die, but their stories never do. Please help spread the word by sharing and following the pod.