ZadekpediaBenedict Arnold appears in The Bob Zadek Show chiefly as a measure of George Washington’s character rather than as a biographical subject. The episodes treat him through two lenses: Washington’s reaction to the betrayal, and the mechanics and stakes of the plot itself.
Washington’s reaction at West Point
In a 2011 episode, Bob Zadek posed to historian Thomas Fleming the question he said he had wanted to ask a George Washington reenactor: how Washington felt at West Point the moment he learned Benedict Arnold had betrayed him. Fleming answered in Washington’s voice, saying with tears in his voice, “Oh, if we can’t trust Arnold, who can we trust?” Fleming described himself as tremendously shocked George Washington Was Our Guest (2011).
Fleming then shifted from the reenactment to the historian’s register, speaking as Washington “from Elysium.” In that voice he said the betrayal would not have been as surprising as it seemed, reporting that more and more historians were beginning to catch on to the possibility that Arnold’s treachery might already have been known, and that the elaborate business of catching him and letting him get away was part of a plot cooked up to conceal spies inside New York who had told them about him. Fleming characterized this as an argument that can be made along that line, and noted that Washington did, in the literal drama, believe it was a shocking thing George Washington Was Our Guest (2011).
Fleming also related an anecdote he said very few people know. After Arnold had his men row him down to the British ship and got on board, he turned to the oarsmen and told them he wanted them all to join him, that he was joining the British Army and they would make a lot of money. They all said no and rowed back to West Point George Washington Was Our Guest (2011).
The question that went unasked
In a 2013 episode, Zadek described visiting Colonial Williamsburg, where in-period performers take questions from the audience, and said he had twice attended. The first speaker he heard was Patrick Henry, whom he described as the voice of thunder and as one who vehemently opposed the Constitution — adding that Henry was right, but calling that another topic for another day. The other speaker was George Washington, and Zadek got to raise his hand and ask a question George Washington’s Providence (2013).
Zadek said he was killing himself because he had two questions lined up and asked them in the wrong order, since he was called on only once. The question he had wanted to ask Washington was how he felt the moment he learned Benedict Arnold had betrayed him, and what went through his mind. Zadek explained he chose it because he did not think the actor would be prepared to answer a question he would not normally have gotten, and speculated that Washington, who was very reserved and did not wear his feelings on his sleeve, would have been unprepared for it George Washington’s Providence (2013). The excerpt ends before any answer is recorded.
The plot and its stakes
In a 2017 episode, Zadek opened with an on-this-day segment, noting that on September 21st, 1780 — an infamous day — Benedict Arnold met with British General John André to plot the turnover, which he called the deceitful turnover, of West Point to the British. Zadek stated that had it succeeded, the British would have controlled the Hudson River and perhaps the revolution would have been lost. It failed, John André was hung, and Benedict Arnold escaped to England, where Zadek said he lived in disgrace and died poor, adding “no loss there” Federalism and the Flat Tax: The Austin Petersen Plan (2017).
Zadek paired the anniversary with another: 78 years later, on September 17th, 1787, the Constitution was finished, drafted by 55 more or less men, and sent out to the colonies for ratification. He called it an important week in the history of the country before introducing his guest, Missouri US Senate candidate Austin Petersen Federalism and the Flat Tax: The Austin Petersen Plan (2017).
Across episodes
The topic recurs in 2011, 2013 and 2017, but the episodes show no development: the 2011 episode supplies Fleming’s account of Washington’s shock and his revisionist suggestion, the 2013 episode records only Zadek’s account of a question he wished to ask and never had answered, and the 2017 episode supplies Zadek’s own narration of the André meeting and its consequences. No speaker in the later excerpts responds to or revises the earlier treatment.