Benjamin Franklin's greatest contribution to the American Revolution was his diplomacy — he secured French support, which was decisive for American victory, and his decision to side with the colonists was harder because he had spent so much of his life in London.
Conan and Tom explore how Franklin, the greatest diplomat America ever had, brought France into the war — driven by French hatred of Britain — and how Franklin's personal ties to London made his choice to back the revolution more profound than for the other founders. ✦ AI generated
Conan O'Brien · The Rest Is History · 2026-07-25 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 21:28
I do think many Americans don't realize the extent to which yes, George Washington's indispensable, but Ben Franklin, one of the most gifted — you could say the two most gifted of these four guys that you examined are probably Franklin and Jefferson. He's incredibly gifted. He's a great intellect, but he's also got a good sense of people. He's a great diplomat. He's the greatest diplomat we've ever had. And he brings the French in. He brings the French in. And if he hadn't brought the French in, maybe it would have still ended up working out for us, but it wouldn't have ended so decisively probably... And there's a direct cause and effect. If the French hadn't thrown so much money into helping us out and eventually helping us get our freedom, they probably aren't in the same kind of having the same kind of economic problems that directly lead to the revolution.
verbatim transcript · starts at 21:28
21:08that Franklin plays in in Versailles kind of cozing up with all the the duchesses and the the you know the French ladies and all of that and wearing his raccoon hat and things like that. That is why it's so important because Franklin completely recognized that actually what matters here is getting the French on board because they hate the British and that is America's great chance. I do think many Americans
21:31don't realize the extent to which yes, George Washington's indispensable, but Ben Franklin, one of the most gifted, you you could say the two most gifted of these four guys that you examined are probably Franklin and Jefferson. He's incredibly gifted. He's a great intellect, but he's also he's got a good sense of people. He's a a great diplomat. He's the greatest diplomat we've ever had. And he brings the French
22:00in. He brings the French in. And if he hadn't brought the French in, maybe it would have still ended up working out for us, but it wouldn't have ended so uh you know um decisively probably. I remember going to Liberty Hall and they had pictures of Louis V 16th and Marian Twinette and I I very much [laughter] felt Marian Twinette was not a kind of revolutionary republic kind of a girl
22:26but there she is and it's a reminder of of the kind of the alliance between the ons regime in France and this upstart revolutionary republic on the other side of the Atlantic. I mean nothing could have persuaded the French to do it except hatred of the British. >> Yeah. Yeah. And there's a direct cause and effect. If the French hadn't thrown so much money into helping us out and
22:49eventually helping us get our freedom, they probably they're probably not in the same kind of uh having the same kind of economic problems that directly lead to the revolution. So, >> well, that's a constellation. >> Yeah. [laughter] So, yeah. Yeah. It's why can't Dominic be more in favor of our of our revolution? because it it brought down >> it brought down the French monarchy. >> Yeah, French monarchy. So, he should be
23:15happy about that. >> And Con, you mentioned money and of course if there's one founding father who's into money, it's Alexander Hamilton. And I'm guessing until about a decade ago, that's basically what he was known for. Kind of I suppose the Federalist Papers. >> Would you guys have featured Alexander Hamilton as one of the four had it not been for the musical? >> No, we wouldn't. I mean, he's barely