Burger King’s U.S. History Lesson Something of a Double Whopper

Burger King has flubbed a history lesson meant to honor American teachers and highlight the value of education.

The fast-food chain made at least one factual mistake in its version of American history in the promotional campaign “Education Enriches Everyone” and provided potentially misleading information on another bit of history.

The campaign’s promotional materials incorrectly imply that Thomas Jefferson wrote the U.S. Constitution and list the year of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s birth as 1903. Johnson was born in 1908.

The misinformation was printed on thousands of tray liners used in Burger King restaurants, on bookmarks and posters intended for use in classrooms.

Burger King says the mistaken birth date was a typographical error, but it is sticking by its reference to Jefferson.

“Before Thomas Jefferson could pen our Constitution, he was schooled in history,” the materials state.

Historians generally credit another Virginian, James Madison, with shaping the substance of the U.S. Constitution, although the document itself was produced by committee.

A delegate from Pennsylvania, Gouverneur Morris, penned the final draft, said Walter Avis, a spokesman for the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution in Washington.

“James Madison is popularly referred to as the father of the Constitution. He probably played the most significant role in the wording and the ideas that went into the Constitution,” Avis said.

Jefferson was in France in 1787 at the time of the Constitutional Convention and did not attend, Avis said.

“He may have had some influence because he wrote letters, but certainly he was not the author. You couldn’t even say he was a significant contributor.”

Jefferson is credited with writing the Declaration of Independence.

Barbara Gothard, director of corporate affairs at Burger King, defended the use of the word “pen” based on company research.

“Burger King stands by the accuracy of the fact that our research showed that Jefferson had been asked (his) opinion of the Constitution by James Madison and had responded,” Gothard said. “We wrote it in such a way that other people have misinterpreted.”

The company did not mean to imply that Jefferson was the author of the Constitution, Gothard said.