Claim: A newspaper clipping accurately quotes antisemitic comments by Benjamin Franklin in 1787. For years, a photo of an alleged newspaper clipping with a purported transcription of an anti-Semitic speech by U.S. Beard Exposes Anti-Semitic Forgery About Benjamin Franklin" — said the alleged diary was never verified despite "extensive researches." They were J. Henry Smythe, author of "The Amazing Ben Franklin" and member of the Benjamin Franklin Committee of the National Society, Sons of the American Revolution; Julian Boyd, librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and Carl van Doren, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography "Benjamin Franklin." (The book's title is "Benjamin Franklin in American Thought and Culture, 1790-1990, Volume 211.")

Source: New York Times June 13, 2024 02:04 UTC