When he wasn’t busy taming electricity and being a Founding Father of the United States, Benjamin Franklin was encouraging inoculations to combat the smallpox pandemic of the 18th century. Franklin bitterly regretted not inoculating his 4-year-old son, Francis, who died from smallpox when an outbreak hit Philadelphia in 1736. Andy talks to filmmaker Ken Burns, whose new PBS documentary on the founding father comes out April 4, about Franklin’s role during the smallpox pandemic, how he balanced his libertarian views with scientific and public health reasoning, and whether Franklin would support a COVID-19 vaccine mandate if alive today.

 

Keep up with Andy on Twitter @ASlavitt and Instagram @andyslavitt. 

 

Follow Ken Burns @KenBurns on Twitter.

 

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Check out these resources from today’s episode: 

 

• Watch Ken Burns' four-hour documentary, “Benjamin Franklin,” which premieres on PBS April 4-5: https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/benjamin-franklin/
• Watch this extended scene on inoculation that did not make it into the final film: https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/unum/playlist/innovation#benjamin-franklin-inoculation
• Order free at-home COVID-19 tests through the USPS: https://special.usps.com/testkits
• Order Andy’s book, “Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response,” here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250770165 

 

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