Benjamin Franklin: An American Life

 

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life – Walter Isaacson

Reading this excellent biography reminded me of the fact that just because I’ve already read one biography of a subject matter, that does not mean I shouldn’t read another.  Several years ago, I read an excellent retrospective of Benjamin Franklin by historian H.W. Brands. It was a great read, although I confess I couldn’t remember much detail. (This is one of the reasons I started blogging my reviews, so I guess I could have just gone back and read the review I wrote, but where’s the fun in that?)

Benjamin Franklin, I think, is mostly known as one of the founding fathers of The United States of America.  We tend to think of him seated at various continental congresses surrounded by other prominent figures of the day such as Washington, Jefferson, Henry, and Lee.  He must have been a pretty important figure for his portrait to be stamped on the $100 bill.  This book reminds us, though, that Franklin’s life encompassed so much more and it’s all very fascinating and highly interesting.

First, we must remember that he was well into his eighties by the time the U.S. Constitution was being written, and he was by FAR the oldest one there.  Most of the other young pups that formed and founded the country were still in their thirties.  That doesn’t mean he lived his earlier years as a “non” American. Oh no.  His entire life was on the continent that would soon become America and this book allows to follow his footsteps throughout as well as peer into his brilliant mind.

The first “highlight” of young Franklin’s career consisted of his occupation as a printer.  What we now know about being a printer is quite advanced as to what it was almost 300 years ago, but the fascinating thing that we learn about Benjamin Franklin is that his contributions went well beyond setting the type in a machine and mass producing the news of the day.  You see, Benjamin Franklin carefully utilized his occupation to get his opinions and voice out to the public.  In other words, his printed works consisted mostly of his own editorials.  What was so fascinating is that Franklin often disguised his musings by claiming many of these reflections were from random citizens who were writing to Franklin’s paper in the form of what we now define as “letters to the editor”.   Most were never duped by his schemes, yet to read about them is quite rewarding. 

One of the tidbits that makes this book so enjoyable is that the author includes verbatim many of what Franklin would actually write, whether it was a letter to the editor, or correspondence to foreign leaders. There’s a lot of it here.  This is rewarding in this case because Franklin was wonderfully witty and made an awful lot of sense with his constant musings.  It’s simply a joy to hear how he would articulate his thoughts and observations.  To be brutally frank, this sort of inclusion by a biographer can be a huge hindrance if the subject matter isn’t gifted with writing reflections, but Franklin was much more talented than most.

We also read about his journeys oversees to places such as France and England.  Even though America wasn’t independent yet, there was an awful lot of negotiating, bantering, and bartering that needed to happen, and Benjamin Franklin was the perfect statesman for such an important undertaking.  Plus, when Franklin went to Europe on said missions, he often stayed there for years at a time.  Much of this is probably because it took up to eleven weeks (can you imagine?) just to make the long, often dangerous, journey by ship.

It's here where we see, what I would consider, some weaknesses in Franklin’s character. It seems as though he neglected his family an awful lot.  Although his relationship with his wife always seemed cordial, it never did seem as though there was an awful lot of love there, and he seemed to enjoy spending more time away from her and the kids than he did being with them.  I guess it probably didn’t help that his son was illegitimate, and his wife probably felt a certain level of animosity towards both father and son. Still, we read about a lot of flirtatious relationships between Franklin and many European “friends” and it really does make a reader a tad queasy.  From what we can gather, these relationships never went beyond flirting, but it’s quite obvious that he preferred these younger European ladies as opposed to the one he was supposed to be loyal to across the globe.

Oh yeah, and let’s not forget that Benjamin Franklin was a highly esteemed inventor as well.  We read about his “discovery” of electricity as well as some of his other experiments, yet if we’re honest, this is where the writing can bog the reader down slightly.  Reading about his discoveries and observations about mixing oil and water and the effects they each have is a bit weary of a read.  Fortunately, this portion of Franklin’s life isn’t discussed in too much detail here.   Then there’s the story of him trying to figure out why “farts” smell so bad.  What if he could figure out a way to change one’s diet to where “farting” would actually make the air smell pleasant?   Based on my observations centuries later, I think we can safely conclude that this is one area around invention that Benjamin Franklin was not very successful.

And yes, there is a lot here about the burgeoning feelings toward the independence of the nation, and we hear Franklin make very concise arguments for pros and cons throughout his lifetime.  The man truly does deserve the accolades that he receives around his role in formation of the United States.  Side note: He also seems to quarrel an awful lot with John Adams (who would later become the second U.S. President).  It almost made me want to reread the brilliant biography of John Adams by David McCullough for more perspective.  Almost.

We also read an awful lot about Franklin’s religious beliefs; or lack thereof.  Contrary to what many have said, Franklin was not an Atheist, nor was he a Christian.  And, no, he didn’t have any “death bed conversion” either way as some have speculated.  Like Thomas Jefferson, he was a deist and was brutally honest about many of his beliefs and reservations.  We walk away with the understanding that Franklin knew that a lot of good can come from believing in a deity, and if one used such beliefs as a shield as opposed to a sword, a lot of the benefits of a religion can aid a society.

I would highly recommend this book.  I should also say that I felt the same way about the H.W. Brands book, even though I couldn’t remember much about it since I read it several years ago.  I guess that anytime a serious author sets out to write a well-researched and well-told book about such a fascinating character, there really isn’t too much that can go wrong, and your efforts as a reader will be highly rewarded.

The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House

 

The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House – Bob Woodward

“Read my lips: No new taxes!” – Vice-President George Bush, 1988

“It’s the economy, stupid.” – James Carville, 1992

 

Bob Woodward has quite the reputation of churning out books, usually focused on those that inhabit Washington D.C., at a fairly brisk base. Fortunately, he retains his journalistic integrity, and his work never suffers in terms of quality.  Unlike some authors who may set out to write accounts of historical figures that encompass their entire lives and career, Woodward focuses on the everyday events around a high-profile figure within a much shorter duration.  In this case, he’s writing about the first year of Bill Clinton’s presidency.

To trace the appeal of the Arkansas governor and his victory of 1992, we probably need to start with President Ronald Reagan, whose main accomplishment was aiding in the bankruptcy of the Soviet Union.  A major accomplishment, but with it came an enormous price tag.  It didn’t help when his “trickle-down economics” never trickled.  Although we couldn’t see it at the time, he left his successor, George Bush, with a hefty tab that eventually came due.  The prudent (but unfortunate) thing to do, would be to raise taxes, but pledging to do so won’t win any elections, so Bush made an unwise promise in 1988 that he couldn’t fulfill.   4 years later, enter Bill Clinton.

During the 1992 campaign, Clinton made promises about a plan to fix the economic mess.  He outlined an agenda. He was a breath of fresh air. He capitalized when Bush ran a trainwreck of a reelection campaign.  He won.  All of the sudden, the country saw a lot of new, unfamiliar, well-scrubbed young faces in an around the oval office. Change was in the air.

Well, as Bill Clinton would soon learn, it’s easy to campaign with beautiful poetry, but when it comes to actually governing, one must use thought out prose instead.  He quickly realizes he’s in way over his head and he simply can’t get a grip on this economic monster and tame it to where it will make the bulk of the constituents and lawmakers in D.C. happy.  Running the country in Washington is a lot harder than running the state of Arkansas.

When author Bob Woodward walks us through the high-level events of Bill Clinton’s journey, and eventual occupancy, to the White House, this is a very engaging and informative narrative.  This type of writing is present for about half of this book.  The other half is tied a bit too tightly to the minutiae of governing. There are a ton of key capitol players to digest here including congressmen and women, cabinet members, campaign officials, policy experts, and of course Al Gore and Hillary.  We’re allowed at the table of their many fiscal meetings, but we really wish we weren’t. There’s an awful lot of economic detail here, and sometimes I wonder if anyone other than someone with a PhD in economics can really understand all the financial bickering that goes on in all these meetings. Sadly, the solutions never seem to work or even agreed upon among all the key players.  They have to go “back to the ol’ drawing board” over and over and over again.

You have to wonder if Bill Clinton had second thoughts about being elected president once he gets the job and realizes just how hard his promise is going to be to keep.  Let’s remember that this is Washington DC, and there are tons of folks on the other side of the political fence that want him to fail. They’re not going to go out of their way to make his job any easier. We must also remember that 24-hour news on cable tv was just starting to gain popularity during this time, and a lot of these shows cared more about ratings than they did telling people the truth.  So we see Clinton and company in high levels of frustration during many of these meetings.  We learn that Bill Clinton can scream and curse.

Experts will disagree on whether or not Clinton ever succeeded.  Yes, he “passed” his agenda, but not with the muster nor grandeur that he imagined.  He seems to have whimpered passed the finish line where many of the masses just became tired of listening and thinking about it.  This is probably true about the majority of political “victories” that are accomplished at the federal level, and to Bill Clinton’s credit, he did keep the momentum up and made significant dents and improvements during his second term.

Speaking of “second term”, none of that is here.  This book is about Clinton’s first year only. A bit of a relief. How many accounts of Clinton’s presidency are littered with accounts of Whitewater, impeachment, and Monica Lewinsky?  So the good news is that essentially all of that is absent.  This book accomplishes what it sets out to do.  It gives a good look at the Clinton administration surrounded by young, unfamiliar faces, and shows them plowing ahead in the face of adversity to try to change the country for the better.   One wishes, though, that we had more of a high-level view and not so much down-in-the-weeds detail, but the book is not overwhelming in length and is a fairly easy read.

Bob Woodward’s books are usually rewarding, and this one is no exception.