TODAY'S BENEDICT ARNOLD
A traitor in the White House? If the shoe fits ...
Exclusive: Pat Boone offers 'hypothetical' scenario of treason in nation's highest office
– Marcus Tullius Cicero, 1st century B.C.
What is treason? Good old Webster’s Dictionary describes it simply as “betrayal of one’s country to an enemy.” And traitor as “one who betrays one’s country, cause, friends, etc.”
I’ve recently read a biography of Benedict Arnold, American history’s most notorious traitor. Though he was beneficiary of our young country’s opportunities and honors, rising through the military to the rank of major general, historians record he was arrogant and impatient with civilian deliberateness and legislative oversight. He courted the favor of British loyalists, angering the patriots – and exhibited such a love and need for money that he lined his pockets with questionable side ventures.
He decided he wasn’t sufficiently appreciated by his fellows and formulated a treasonous plan to crush the Revolution and revenge himself on Congress. When, amazingly, he was given the command of West Point, he plotted with British Gen. Clinton to surrender the fort for 20,000 pounds! The plot was discovered, and Arnold barely managed to escape to England, where he lived out his life as a social outcast … and infamous traitor.
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