Program Description
Event Details
Benjamin Franklin was not a gambling man. But at the end of his illustrious life, the Founder allowed himself a final wager on the survival of the United States: a gift of two thousand pounds to Boston and Philadelphia, to be lent out to tradesmen over the next two centuries to jump-start their careers. Each loan would be repaid with interest over ten years. If all went according to Franklin’s inventive scheme, the accrued final payout in 1991 would be a windfall.
In Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet, Michael Meyer traces the evolution of these twin funds as they age alongside America itself, bankrolling woodworkers and silversmiths, trade schools and space races. Over time, Franklin’s wager was misused, neglected, and contested—but never wholly extinguished. With charm and inquisitive flair, Meyer shows how Franklin’s stake in the “leather-apron” class remains in play to this day and offers an inspiring blueprint for prosperity in our modern era of growing wealth disparity and social divisions.
Upcoming Discussions for 2026
January: Benjamin Franklin’s Last Bet by Michael Meyer
February: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson
March: The Woman’s Hour by Elaine Weiss
April: Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick
May: American Sphinx by Joseph Ellis
June: The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw
July: Blue Highways- A Journey into America by William Least Heat-Moon