7 Scholars Refute Franklin Anti-semitism Allegation

Complete exoneration for Benjamin Franklin of the charge of being an anti-Semite is made by seven noted scholars in a pamphlet, “Benjamin Franklin Vindicated,” issued jointly by the International Benjamin Franklin Society, the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, and the Jewish Labor Committee. The pamphlet brands as an unequivocal forgery an excerpt from the Journal of Charles Pinckney of South Carolina which alleges that Franklin spoke against the Jews at a meeting of the Constitutional Convention of 1789. The scholars represented in the pamphlet include Dr. Charles H. Beard, the historian; Dr. Henry Butler Allen, director of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia; Alfred Rigling, librarian of the Franklin Institute; J. Henry Smythe Jr., compiler of “The Amazing Benjamin Franklin”; Julian Boyd, libraian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; John Clyde Oswald, Franklin authority; and Dr. Carl Van Doren, author of the recently published biography, “Benjamin Franklin.”