Kerry: Ben Franklin Could Not Be Confirmed to Office If He Lived Today
By CNSNews.com Staff | May 25, 2015 | 11:03 AM EDT
Secretary of State John Kerry at Arctic Council reception at the State Department on May 21, 2015. (Screen capture)
(CNSNews.com) - At a reception at the State Department that marked the U.S. taking over the chairmanship of the Arctic Council, Secretary of State John Kerry said that if Benjamin Franklin lived today and was nominated for office he would never be confirmed.
“Franklin, actually, was raised partly by an aunt on Nantucket,” said Kerry. “He became the first person to publish, as a result of his findings, a chart of what he called ‘a river in the ocean,’ which, of course, we know as the Gulf Stream. So it’s a powerful current that affects all of our climate, including the conditions in the Arctic itself. So without knowing it--he didn’t talk about it, but he did something about it.
“And there is, of course, a second connection between Franklin and this reception,” Kerry said. “And that is that he liked to have a really good time, folks. And he didn’t spare the booze, and while he was in Paris he led a life that clearly meant that had he lived today and been nominated, he would never have been confirmed for office. (Laughter.) Anyway, it just goes to show how the times change.”
The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental forum for the eight countries that have territory in the Arctic—the United States, Russia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The U.S. assumed chairmanship of the council in April.
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