A lot of people don't know this but I go to Benedict Arnold International College. That's right, from the ease of my computer, I pay $2,000 a credit hour, which roughly totals about 6-8k per class for this online experience. Joe Biden is one of my classmates at BAIC... but hey, don't tell anyone.

saw the folly of America way back when. surely not an idiot.

One of the absolute rising stars of the new country, with an extremely bright future and great connections, he put himself in a financial bind, spent way beyond his means, tried to manipulate his way up the government ladder to solve his problem, embezzled monies from the new government (though he was acquitted of most of those criminal charges) and sold out his country, attempting to sell the architectural drawings of West Point to the British to facilitate their attack. Sorry, he put himself in a bad spot, made it worse through his dishonest behavior, putting the lives of his countrymen at extreme risk, and paid the price.

Well you have to remember at the time America was a foundling country with half the people not wanting to even be independent of Britain. So when Congress stiffed Arnold it seemed natural to him to think this new country wasn't going to work and to move to the other side. Mostly he just guessed wrong.

I've never seen this man as particularly stupid. If anything, viewed from a modern light, he looks like he may have had a mental illness, possibly schizophrenia or some bi-polar variant. Venal, certainly. Stupid, I don't think.

I wouldn't characterize Benedict Arnold as an idiot. Rather he was a man with a huge ego. His name will forever be associated with traitorous behavior because of his actions during the American Revolution. Arnold was a cantankerous type who took rejection very personally. He was a good military strategist who gave the Americans victory in Fort Schuyler, but nonetheless he was a flawed man. He was caught in a huge clash of egos between the various personalities of Revolutionary history like Ethan Allan and Horatio Gates. He was a man with plenty of enemies who were in all reality envious of him and that started getting to him. Couple that with the fact that he lived beyond his means to the point that he got involved in shady business dealings, giving his enemies their opening to press charges against him. He lost his senority in the army but he later had it restored by General George Washington, who had great respect for his talents. Nonetheless, he felt unappreciated for all the victories he brought the Americans; he lost his leg in a battle. Arnold began negotiations with the British to give them West Point in exchange for 10,000 Pounds and an escape to England. I would characterize this more as a bad career move at the end of the day. Had he stuck it out with the Americans and reigned in his ego, he might be known as a noteworthy patriot. Instead he died an unknown failure and the history books recorded him a failure.