Calvin Coolidge

Amity Shlaes has written a fine biography of our 30th President, Calvin Coolidge.  I have always been skeptical of the image of Coolidge portrayed in our textbooks.  Shlaes' book provides a good lesson, as well as a good look at "Silent Cal."

It's intellectually healthy to question the generalizations found in our history textbooks.  For whatever reasons--limited space, differences of political views, long-time (even wrong) conclusions--the pictures painted of Coolidge are not accurate.  His efforts, achievements, and legacy have been misinterpreted and misrepresented, perhaps even willfully.

I've had a fond place in my studies for Coolidge since we are college mates, although he attended Amherst about 70 years before I did.  No, we didn't have any of the same professors.  If I recall correctly, he took the same lessons about life from some of his professors that I did.  We both found many of our professors to be inspirational.

Some historians (and their textbooks) seem to lay blame or at least some of it for the Depression at the feet of Coolidge.  Actually, he foresaw the Depression, months if not a year or more in advance.  It wasn't his policies that worried him, but the efforts of a Congress that strayed from what Coolidge urged.

One of his worries stemmed from the Depression or, rather, the federal gov't's response to it.  In dire times, people often are easily led, succumbing to the exhortations of power-driven politicians that more gov't can solve the problems or at least palliate them.  (OK, some politicians mean well and likely even believe that the gov't can alleviate problems.)  In that event, people will expect too much from the gov't, will give it too much power.  When the difficulty passes, will gov't readily forfeit the emergency/expedient power it had been given?  Coolidge worried that it wouldn't, that the taste of power was too alluring.

Coolidge was also concerned about the growing idea in the early years of the 20th Century that gov't could steal, er, take one group of people's money (that is tax the wealthy!) to give programs to other groups.  Let people spend their money, charitably or otherwise, the ways they want.  After all, the money is theirs.

Although he wasn't as "silent" as usually portrayed, Coolidge did have some personal foibles.  He could be pouty, fly off the handle pretty easily, and sometimes show petty selfishness.  But that's far from the entire picture.  Often, he led his life as an example or at least he tried to do that.  Here's one story.  He was contractually commissioned by a magazine to write ten columns/articles at the then healthy fee of $2000 a pop.  The mag ran only six of his writings.  Coolidge went to the publisher and asked why all ten weren't printed.  After all, he had the contract--ten articles for $20,000.  The publisher (and his lawyers) were prepared, reminding him he had been paid for all ten.  Coolidge, though, reminded them only six found their way into the magazine.  "But you have been paid......"  That was of no matter to Coolidge.  When the publisher added that the other four weren't good enough to make the cut, Coolidge pulled out his check book and wrote a check for $8000.  He insisted the contract was for articles that were published; since four of them weren't, he didn't earn or deserve the money.  He paid back the publisher.  How's that for leading by example?

I am starting David McCullough's bio of the Wright Brothers.  I have read a couple of excerpts and am eagerly looking forward to it.  And, this will seem odd, sometime soon I want to read my own thesis, all 268 pages of it.  I wrote it, but other than proofreading it, have never sat down and read it.  I hope I won't be disappointed.