Matt Franck

Visiting Lecturer Politics @Princeton. Senior Fellow @WitherspoonInst. Contributing editor @PublicDiscourse. Professor Emeritus of Political Science @RadfordU.

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

Today I announce that, if nominated and elected, I will serve as president of the United States. A brief account of my platform is published at @thedispatch. Link below.

[Bob Elder @southernphd]

I never met Gordon Wood, but I have a story about him.

In one of my grad school seminars, we read Wood’s Creation of the American Republic. The sheer erudition and evidentiary depth of the book bowled me over.

Back then, before kids and before life accelerated to warp speed, I used to call my mother every Sunday to catch up. Lots of times, we ended up talking about what I was reading that week in my grad seminars or for leisure. Mom had an omnivorous mind, and she was always looking for something else to read. She was a true intellectual—curious about almost everything, always eager to integrate new arguments or ideas into her existing schemas of how the world worked or to have those schemas challenged and changed.

When we talked that particular Sunday, I think I tried to describe to her part of Wood’s argument about the relationship between the state constitutions during the Articles of Confederation era and the federal Constitution. Maybe I was tired, maybe I didn’t completely understand her questions, but the end result of the conversation was that Mom had questions about Wood’s argument that I didn’t answer satisfactorily. I told her that she should probably just read the book, and we said goodbye.

She did eventually read the book, but the next Sunday, Mom started our conversation by saying, “Well, I had a lovely conversation with Gordon Wood this week.” For a split second, I thought she was joking, but then I remembered who I was dealing with. I started to sweat. “How?” I asked. A whole variety of unlikely scenarios in which the foremost historian of the American Revolution and my mother, who lived in Wichita, Kansas, might have met ran through my mind. “Oh, I just looked up his office phone number on Brown’s website and called, and he picked up!” Mom said. I decided I would have to find another profession.

As it ended up, Gordon Wood spent about an hour on the phone with my mother answering her questions about the Constitution. Ever since, I’ve had a soft spot for the man when I imagine him picking up the phone in Providence and finding Becky Elder from Wichita on the other end of the line. His generosity in that moment spoke very well of him.

Rest in peace, professor.

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

My copy of this eagerly anticipated book arrived today. Looking forward to reading @McGillPatterson @ThomasDHowes @ArchCordileone @CRPakaluk

[Paul Bronks @SlenderSherbet]

"HURRY BRIAN THERE'S NOT A MOMENT TO LOSE"

[P.G. Wodehouse @wodehouseoffice]

🚨 Deal alert! 🚨

Well, it’s officially summertime, and to celebrate in true Wodehouse style you can now download ‘Fine Weather, Jeeves’ on Kindle for just 99p - this month only! ⛱️

Download here: https://t.co/g6HPwJWGuj

#KindleDeal #PGWodehouse

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

Absolutely horrible news about a great historian.

[Daniel N. Gullotta ⚓️ @DanielGullotta]

Terrible news. And so close to America250.

https://t.co/I7hksRQtXU

[Daniel N. Gullotta ⚓️ @DanielGullotta]

Terrible news. And so close to America250.

https://t.co/I7hksRQtXU

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

A sure sign of summer—the first day lilies are out.

[Marc O. DeGirolami @MarcODeGirolami]

One more Robert Wilken post, because he was just so great a scholar and man. It's been said many times before, but I want to add my voice to the chorus singing the praises of this very, very fine book. https://t.co/BRhiwW51Ij

[Paul Bronks @SlenderSherbet]

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD SLOW DOWN ALAN THIS IS MADNESS"

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

I came to know Robert in the 2010s, and once brought him to Princeton for a @WitherspoonInst lecture. A kind and gentle fellow as well as a brilliant scholar. Requiescat in pace.

[Jeff Reimer @jreimr]

R.I.P. Robert Louis Wilken. He wrote some of the most well-written, engaging, and profound works of historical theology I’ve ever read.

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

Werner Herzdog

[Buitengebieden @buitengebieden]

What would you name this dog? 😅

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

A memory brought back by this @nytimes article marking the book's 90th birthday. (1936 was the year my dad, then six, was given the copy that remains in our family.) https://t.co/1TKn3fDWjC

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

Thanks to Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson's Ferdinand, for a brief but memorable period of my childhood I believed that corks that fit into wine bottles grew like fruit on the cork trees of Spain.

[Paul Bronks @SlenderSherbet]

🎶"Hello, my baby, hello, my honey, hello my ragtime gal"🎶

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

@DrJohnPinheiro John Dickinson’s albatross. It was a flop.

[Buitengebieden @buitengebieden]

“Hey bird, I can do that too” 😅

🎥 IG: nautilus_liveaboards

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

@chezaristote @zenahitz See my DM.

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

@chezaristote @zenahitz To wit, Gale Primary Sources database.

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

@chezaristote @zenahitz It’s from one of the subscription databases, has the whole TLS.

[Matt Franck @MatthewJFranck]

@zenahitz @chezaristote This is from 2000 so it’s odd.