I begin my book B. Franklin, Printer with the time Benjamin Franklin went to see King Louis XVI of France. He was going to him to try to get support for the United States in the Revolution. He was told that when you go to the King of France, you can’t go bareheaded; you have to wear a wig. So, he had his head fitted for a wig. His head was measured, and then the wigmaker came and put the wig on Franklin’s head. Then he was pulling and tugging, and he couldn’t get the wig to fit. Finally, Franklin turned to him and said, “Maybe the wig is too small.”
The wigmaker said, “No. The wig is not too small. Your head is too big.”And Franklin had no more use for the wigmaker, and he decided to go to the king bareheaded. When he got out of the carriage at the palace of Versailles, people were shocked that he would have the nerve to go to the king bareheaded. Then they heard about the wigmaker and the wig, and they said, “It is a big head, but it’s a great head.” And that’s how I begin the Franklin book.
