Benjamin Franklin and His Enemies

Who could have imagined that Benjamin Franklin, the genial inventor and policy-maker who gained international popularity during the Revolutionary War was found by some to be "foul-mouthed" and "a very uneasy Spirit"? Robert Middlekauff, a historian at the University of California, Berkeley, examines Franklin's long battle not only with Thomas Penn, son of the founder of Pennsylvania, but John Adams, a bright lawyer who grew to hate Franklin, primarily out of jealousy over Franklin's celebrity. Though Franklin's attempts to have Penn stripped of his charter powers backfired, fortunately for Americans, he and Adams were able to rise above animosity for the good of the country.