The Legacy of Calvin Cooidge

If you are to ask anyone who their favorite president is, you will almost always get the same responses: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington. These presidents, and others ranked beside them, are known for their executive action and their ability to handle crisis, like FDR in the Great Depression, and Lincoln in the Civil War, but can a president be known as the greatest president because of his inaction, and how he handled peaceful times? Today, I will be telling you why Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States, is the best president that you don't hear about enough.

Coolidge's pro small government and fiscally conservative views seem to be lost on our culture in this day in age. We now rank Coolidge in the bottom half of our president's in their accomplishment. CBS goes as far as to rank him at 27th, giving an odd reason as to why: "Coolidge is rated poorly for crisis leadership and failing to work for equal justice for all Americans. He refused to use the country’s economic boom to help struggling farmers and workers in other flailing industries." 

Not only is this explanation of Coolidge's presidency too short and out of context, but it is simply a false description. The equivalent of this would be to rank Franklin D. Roosevelt as the worst president in U.S. history by only mentioning his policy towards Japanese Americans in World War 2.

So to get a better picture of the 30th president, lets look at Coolidge's background/upbringing, and the long list of accomplishments he has under his political belt.

Life Before Politics

John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was born in Plymouth Notch, Vermont in 1872 to John Calvin Coolidge Sr. and Victoria Josephine Moor, and is the only president to be born on Independence Day. His father was a well known farmers in the Vermont who also served as public servant. Coolidge attended Black River Academy, St. Johnsbury Academy, and finally Amherst College where he became a distinguished debater and graduated cum laude. Coolidge moved to Massachusetts where he would become a well renowned lawyer, and meet his future wife Grace Coolidge.

Entering Politics

The following is a chronological list of all of the political seats Coolidge held before becoming president:

• Member of the New England Republican City Committee

• Member of the Northampton City Council

• Northampton City Solicitor

• Northampton Clerk of Courts

• Massachusetts State Representative

• Mayor of Northampton

• Massachusetts State Senator

• President of the Massachusetts State Senate

• Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts

• Governor of Massachusetts

• Vice President of the United States

What is the take away from this list? It shows that far before his presidency (his first office being a member of the New England Republican City Council 27 years prior), he had a long history of legislative, judicial, and executive experience, giving him personal experience in each branch of government and how they operate on the inside. (Fun Fact: Coolidge's only defeat in his political career was in an election for the Northampton School Board)

Coolidge's Presidency

During Coolidge's tenure as Vice President, then President Warren G. Harding died unexpectedly from a heart attack in 1923. Coolidge took the oath from his family home in Vermont on August 2nd, 1293, and was sworn in by his father, a local justice of the peace. He would later go on to actually be elected as President just 1 year later in 1924. 

Coolidge was known as "Silent Cal" for his silent nature in public. He believed that, “The words of the President have an enormous weight and ought not to be used indiscriminately.” Despite the fact that he conserved his words, he was a brilliant speech writer and speaker when campaigning.

One of Coolidge's first actions was to purge his adopted administration of corruption. Harding's administration had several major cases of bribery and corruption, most notably the Teapot Scandal. Coolidge believed in honest and trustworthy government, once stating, “There is only one form of political strategy in which I have any confidence, and that is to try to do the right thing and sometimes to succeed.”

During his tenure as President, he lead the US economy during its greatest period of new technological production, steady growth, and low unemployment known as the Roaring 20's. This era vastly improved the quality of life for all Americans, since more jobs were created because of increased demand for new products.

Coolidge's astounding economic success can be attributed to his fiscal conservative policies, and his belief in the freedom of the market. According to history professor Nate Sullivan, "His fiscally conservative policies helped usher in the era of 'Coolidge Prosperity.' Coolidge slashed taxes and supported legislation that encouraged private business. [...] Coolidge deserves considerable credit for the economic success of the 1920's."

It was because of him that tax revenues in the 1920's actually increased, the national debt fell by 1/3, and the unemployment rate fell by ~9%. Fiscal policy analyst Veronique de Rugy states that, "...detailed Internal Revenue Service data show that the across-the-board rate cuts of the early 1920's-including large cuts at the top end-resulted in greater tax payments and a larger tax share paid by those with high incomes. [...] As the marginal tax rate on those high-income earners was cut sharply from 60 percent or more (to a maximum of 73 percent) to just 25 percent, taxes paid by that group soared from roughly $300 million to $700 million per year."

She continued by saying, "The tax cuts allowed the U.S. economy to grow rapidly during the mid- and late-1920's. Between 1922 and 1929, real gross national product grew at an annual average rate of 4.7 percent and the unemployment rate fell from 6.7 percent to 3.2 percent. The Mellon tax cuts restored incentives to work, save, and invest, and discouraged the use of tax shelters."

As writer Amity Shales writes in her book Coolidge, he was "the great refrainer". He often criticized the large amount of food he was served in the White House, believing that in order for government to play a limited role in society, it ought to be limited for the people running it.

The first presidential radio broadcast was made by Coolidge, and he continually made presidential addresses via radio. He supported new technological innovations, such as picture films, but avoided governmental monetary support to the market. Some would say he is infamous for cutting farm subsidies when he vetoed the McNary-Haugen Farm Bill and public works programs, and cut funding to the Postal Service (even though his family ran a Post Office), but others would call this market independence.

His trust of the market to operate without government support is much like a growing child. If you baby it too much, it will never learn how to walk or take care of itself. He simply believed that the government was meant to have a limited role in society, and so he cut support to the market. In an address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Coolidge stated that "...the chief business of the American people is business.”

People tend to not like hearing the word no, even when it comes to governmental policy, and Coolidge was the one to say no often. He went so far as to cut federal support for the victims of a Mississippi flood in 1927. His rural, farm upbringing gave him perspective on the issue of intrusive federal government policies, because he knew that local issues should be handled by the people of that locality.

Socially, Coolidge was far ahead of his time. Throughout his political career, Coolidge was strong supporter of women's suffrage, stringent immigration laws, and anti-lynching laws, which were not common stances during his time. Coolidge's vocal opposition to racism lead the way to the destruction of the second Ku Klux Klan. He would not appoint any known Klansmen to offices he had control over. Despite the fact that this was a dangerous political move, he persevered. During his tenure he also supported the erection of a statue to honor the achievements of African Americans.

From the Coolidge Foundation's site: "An important factor contributing to the Klan’s decline was the rejection of the Klan and all it stood for by Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.  Both presidents rose above the prevalent prejudices and bigotry of their day.  They offered deeds, not words, to the Klan’s victims:  This was manifested, for example, in their support for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill; in their support for a homeland in Palestine for Jews and encouragement of Jewish philanthropic efforts; and in Coolidge’s granting citizenship to all Native Americans and urging his cabinet secretaries to give black employees "an even chance," as he put it.  Most importantly, they did not distance themselves from blacks, from Catholics, or from Jews—rather, both Presidents reached out to them publicly as worthy patriotic citizens contributing to the well-being of the republic."

Coolidge even went the extra mile to support and recognize racial minorities when he gave a commencement speech at the historically black Howard University in 1924. President Coolidge thanked the black soldiers for their service in World War 1, saying: "The colored people have repeatedly proved their devotion to the high ideals of our country. They gave their services in the war with the same patriotism and readiness that other citizens did …. The propaganda of prejudice and hatred which sought to keep the colored men from supporting the national cause completely failed. The black man showed himself the same kind of citizen, moved by the same kind of patriotism, as the white man."

His most notable social achievement was his signing and support of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, giving citizenship to over 125,000 Native Americans. This was a large step in the direction of easier cultural integration for the Native population.

During the 6 years Coolidge served as president, he only made one appointment to the Supreme Court: Justice Harlan F. Stone. Stone would later become the 12th Chief Justice of the Court. Stone aligned with Coolidge on nearly all issues, being a moderate Republican his whole life.

Calvin's foreign policy was modeled around non-interventionism. He opposed the United States entering the League of Nations, fearing that it would enter the US into an inescapable obligation agreement, and did not support military expansion. Though opposed to military expansion and international affairs, Coolidge agreed to the Dawes Plans, which was an attempt to relieve some of the burdens imposed on the German economy by the Treaty of Versailles.

Coolidge was a true progressive of his time. His mixture of fiscal conservatism and social liberalism would classify him as a libertarian today. He set an example for cutting taxes and regulations, bolstered the fight against racial bigotry, and proved that a system of limited government works and is ideal. His action through inaction should be brought back to fight state expansion, and his legacy should be regarded in a much higher respect than it is currently.