In Paris, Taking the Salons by Storm
How the canny Ben Franklin talked the French into a crucial alliance
The extraordinary popularity served Franklin's diplomatic purposes splendidly. Not even King Louis XVI could ignore the enthusiasm that had won over both the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Significantly, Franklin had found in the French minister for foreign affairs, Charles Gravier, the comte de Vergennes, a wily and willing listener—a pragmatic strategist eager to weaken Britain, with which France had been warring for centuries.
When, in 1785, Thomas Jefferson arrived in Paris to become America's next minister to France, Gravier said, "You replace Dr. Franklin, then." Jefferson responded: "I succeed; no one can replace him."
Reader Comments
I am curious about the women in this painting , are they all the same women ?
I have acquired a large proof of this scene and noticed that it seems to be the same women, or at least it appears to me that they each have extremely similar features.
Does any one have any information that may shed some light on my observation ? Then again perhaps I am wrong ?
your friend regardless,
W.G.
Ben Franklin
We need another Ben Franklin now. Where can we find one?
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