January 26, 1784

On This Date in TWISTED-HISTORY.com! in 1784, in a letter to his daughter, Sarah Franklin Bache, Benjamin Franklin expressed his unhappiness over the Bald Eagle being chosen as the symbol of America. He wanted the American Wild Turkey to be named the national symbol. His major reservations were that he had observed the Bald Eagle to be a lazy thief who was wont to rob other birds of their hard won fishes as well as being a coward when confronted by smaller birds. He wrote that while the turkey could be vain and pretentious, it would at least fight when someone threatened its yard. Also, it was a much tastier bird than the eagle could ever hope to be.

About Joel Byers

Born in North Georgia and educated at some very fine public institutions. Real education started after graduating from college and then getting married and raising two boys. Has the ability to see the funny and absurd in most things and will always remark on it, even if it means getting the stink-eye from his victims.
This entry was posted in 18th Century, Historical Facts and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *