BOLT OF FATE: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN AND HIS ELECTRIC KITE HOAX, by Tom Tucker, Public Affairs, 297 pages, $25.
Except for George Washington's confession after chopping down the cherry tree, the most popular legend in American history is probably Benjamin Franklin flying a kite during a storm as an electrical experiment.
According to the story, Franklin flew his kite during a thunderstorm in the summer of 1752. Electricity from the clouds traveled down the kite's twine and threw a spark from a key that Franklin had attached to the string. Allegedly, the experiment proved that lightning and electricity are one.
This story is also told to demonstrate that Franklin's chief accomplishments came as scientist or inventor. In fact, Franklin was a Renaissance man — philosopher, printer, politician, diplomat, writer . . . almost anything you can think of. Historically, he is most famous for his expert diplomacy with the French, in recruiting their help during the American Revolution, and he was a major compromising force at the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention in 1787.
Electricity is way down there on his list of accomplishments.
Tom Tucker, an author who is mainly interested in the history of invention, has suspected for a long time that Franklin's kite experiment was a hoax — a myth geared to embarrass his French and English rivals. Tucker is not trying to downgrade Franklin's talent but rather to add a sly element that may have strengthened his diplomatic hand with the French.
Not only was he well-known for perpetrating hoaxes, but his deadpan sense of humor was very active. In a letter in 1750, Franklin recommended standing beneath a metal pole during a thunderstorm to ascertain the connection between lightning and electricity. "Before I leave this subject of lightning, I may mention some of the similarities between the effects of that and those of electricity. Lightning has often been known to strike people blind."
The author sifts through all the available evidence about Franklin and kites and finds that Franklin first talked about doing it at least three months after he was supposed to have performed the experiment. Even then, he gave no date and no details, nor did he actually say he had performed the experiment. This was ironically different from his experiments in developing bifocal lenses and in inventing an instrument to take down books from high shelves. He wrote at length about those and gave specifics; he even offered diagrams. As the author says, "He says he did it!"
Tucker follows every lead he can find on Franklin's connection with electricity and concludes that he talked about it and wrote about it quite a lot, but he never actually conducted the experiment. Whether that is true or not, his alleged electrical expertise followed him into politics and diplomacy, especially in France.
The author's emphasis on electricity as the key to understanding Franklin's popularity, which, outside the United States, was astronomical, seems overdone. Whether or not the kite story was a hoax, Franklin's astounding breadth and charm would have carried him anywhere he wanted to go.
E-MAIL: dennis@desnews.com