An ab initio harmonic study is presented for the nascent vibrational energy distribution of room-temperature benzene when photoexcited to the S-1 state. The dependence on photoexcitation frequency and pulse width is investigated. We find, that even though the transition is symmetry disallowed, the Herzberg-Teller mechanism by which the nuclear motion induces the transition, can lead to cooling of the molecule at the transition frequencies corresponding to a mode of E-2g Symmetry. The extent of cooling decreases with increasing pulse width, but even with a pulse width of 90 cm(-1) one still finds significant cooling of the vibrational population. Cooling is also found for deuterated benzene. The energy deposited in the molecule is found to be very sensitive to the excitation frequency, provided that the pulse width is sufficiently narrow.