SOURCE: Willard Sterne Randall, six-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, historical scholar in residence at Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., and author of A Little Revenge: Benjamin Franklin and His Son.
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As Iraq's people prepare for upcoming elections, President Bush will give a speech today in Philadelphia comparing the situation in Iraq with America's early attempts at democracy. Willard Sterne Randall, historical scholar in residence at Champlain College and the author of half a dozen separate biographies on the Founding Fathers, says that the two aren't comparable: "We won the Revolution and weren't occupied by an invading imperial army when we held our first national elections."
Additionally, January 17, 2006 will mark the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's birth. With President Bush's approval rating at an all-time low, scholars and media alike have been left to wonder what our Founding Fathers would think of how America has fared in both domestic and foreign affairs in the past several years. Will this anniversary drive home the point that America has become increasingly alienated from the principles on which it was founded?
Randall says that "Benjamin Franklin was, first and foremost, a revolutionary. He would surely take issue with what the Bush Administration is doing, especially in foreign affairs but also day-to-day domestically. He would strenuously oppose faith-based initiatives, as he strongly believed in the separation of church and state. Most of all, he would oppose Bush's spare-the-rich-and-soak-the-middle-classes agenda of tax cuts. In turn, the Administration would be threatened by him and probably have him trailed, wiretapped, and maybe even jailed under the Patriot Act."
Professor Randall can comment on:
· The accuracy of Bush's comparison of early America and the current state of Iraq;
· The life and historical legacy of Benjamin Franklin and our other Founding Fathers;
· The historical precedents set by our Founding Fathers and how they have been upheld or devalued by our current administration and our last few presidents;
· What these ethical discrepancies will mean for future generations.
Willard Sterne Randall is a Historical Scholar in Residence at Champlain College and a Fellow of the Vermont Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of twelve books, including five biographies and two biographical readers. A former investigative reporter, he received the National Magazine Award for Public Service from Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, the Hillman Prize, the Loeb Award and three Pulitzer Prize nominations during his seventeen-year journalism career in Philadelphia. After graduate studies in history at Princeton University, he turned to writing biographies, which have also garnered three Pulitzer nominations. Benedict Arnold, Patriot and Traitor, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and runner-up for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Thomas Jefferson, A Life, was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and was selected as one of Publishers Weekly's best biographies of 1993. George Washington, A Life, was included in Readers Digest's Best Nonfiction of 1997, World's Greatest Biographies (2002). Randall recently received the Award of Merit from the American Revolution Roundtable in New York City, only awarded twice before in the organization's 45-year history. His latest biography, Alexander Hamilton, A Life, was published by HarperCollins in 2003. He has co-authored four books with his wife, the poet Nancy Nahra, including American Lives, a two volume collection of short biographies that has been used in more than 100 colleges and universities. A contributing author to MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, he regularly reviews biographies for New York Newsday, Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Globe and the Journal of American History.
Professor Randall has been interviewed on NBC's Today Show, One on One; and on Brian Lamb's Booknotes on C-Span. He also participated with 57 other Presidential Scholars in C-Span's 2000 "Rating the Presidents." His speech on President Washington was part of C-Span's Peabody Award-winning series, "American Presidents." He has been interviewed by CNN, NPR's All Things Considered and Talk of the Nation. He played a major role in PBS's series, "Benjamin Franklin," which was based in part on his 1984 dual biography, Benjamin Franklin and His Son, and in the History Channel's "Spies of the American Revolution." He has been a frequent contributor to The Mark Johnson Show on WDEV-FM in Vermont and was the subject of a recent Fran Stoddard "Profile" on Vermont Public Television.
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