Tipsheet

Did the Smithsonian Really Say This About Benjamin Franklin?

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  July 24, 2026 8:00 AM

Benjamin Franklin was one of our greatest Founding Fathers. A brilliant man, Franklin was a newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia; he wrote the Poor Richard's Almanac, was the first president of the Academy and College of Philadelphia (later the University of Pennsylvania), and secured French aid for the American Revolution, among many other things.

Franklin, who also loved science, charted and named the Gulf Stream current and studied electricity. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, the glass harmonica and the Franklin stove.

In short, there's a reason his face is on the $100 bill.

But the Smithsonian decided to slander Franklin instead of honoring him. They had a display that "pondered" if Franklin tortured slaves by performing electroshock experiments on them

Here's more:

During a House hearing Tuesday, Heritage Foundation expert Mike Gonzalez testified that a multiyear special exhibit, "The Electric Dr. Franklin," included a display that "pondered whether he had ever done experiments, electrical electroshock on indentured servants or slaves." 

Gonzalez testified that the display included this suggestion "without producing any evidence whatsoever," which he called "shocking."

"Why smear a Founding Father such as Ben Franklin by pondering such a really bizarre thing," Gonzalez asked.

Immediately after Gonzalez’s testimony, Rep. Brian Jack, R-Ga., confronted Hartig, saying, "We've heard a lot of concerning examples as just referenced. Do you have any regrets in your tenure thus far [about] some of the exhibits that have been displayed? Do you regret any of the exhibits and, if so, which?"

Hartig answered, "I am incredibly proud of the work we've done, but we are imperfect, and we surely have made mistakes. But I don't have any regrets."

Jack pressed further, asking, "Which mistakes would you say you've made?"

"There are always factual errors," Hartig responded.

Accusing Ben Franklin of conducting electroshock experiments on slaves is not a "factual error." 

A lot of what they do is directly out of "Rules for Radicals."

Long past overdue.

The problem, as always, is leftist white women.

We need to pay attention.

And here's just how ignorant and propagandistic the Smithsonian is. Ben Franklin pushed for the abolition of slavery.

The ahistorical garbage peddled by the Smithsonian is an insult to the memory of Franklin and to the intelligence of every American. It's an anti-American piece of propaganda meant to undermine this nation's founding so the Left can dismantle it and rebuild a socialist utopia.