7pm Thursday BENJAMIN FRANKLIN - A Ken Burns' Film
Franklin's 84 years (1706-1790) spanned an epoch of momentous change in science, technology, literature, politics, and government — fields he himself advanced through a lifelong commitment to societal and self-improvement. Over the course of seven impossibly prolific decades, Franklin ascended professional and social ladders, rising from a printer’s apprentice in provincial Boston to the most popular man in Paris, France.
Franklin’s influence was unmatched in his time, and his impact remains with us today. “If you would not be forgotten, as soon as you are dead and rotten,” he said in Poor Richard’s Almanack, “either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.” Benjamin Franklin did both.
Join or Die (1706-1774)
Leaving behind his Boston childhood, Benjamin Franklin reinvents himself in Philadelphia where he builds a printing empire and a new life with his wife, Deborah. Turning to science, Franklin's lightning rod and experiments in electricity earn him worldwide fame. After entering politics, he spends years in London trying to keep Britain and America together as his own family starts to come apart.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN is directed and executive produced by Ken Burns, written by Dayton Duncan, and produced by David Schmidt and Ken Burns.
