In the first full-scale biography of Calvin Coolidge in over a generation, Robert Sobel shatters the caricature of our thirtieth president as a silent, do-nothing leader.
Sobel instead exposes the real Coolidge, whose legacy as the most Jeffersonian of all 20th century president still reverberates today. Sobel delves into the record to show how Coolidge cut taxes four times, had a budget surplus every year in office, and cut the national debt by a third in a period of unprecedented economic growth.
Though his list of accomplishments is impressive, Coolidge was perhaps best known and most respected for his character. The sleaze that characterizes much of American political life today was absent in his administration. Coolidge was the last president who wrote his own speeches, spent hours each day greeting White House guests, had only one secretary, and who didn't keep a telephone on his desk. Yet he remains as relevant today as a three-quarters of a century ago. Little wonder, then, that Ronald Reagan so admired Coolidge, whose programs in the 1920s presaged the recent movement towards smaller government and reduced taxes.
Sobel dispels the myths that have gathered around this underappreciated president and gives him the serious consideration he merits. With this timely and important biography, Sobel has surely challenged historians to reassess Calvin Coolidge.
Another good review: Restoring Calvin Coolidge by Thomas B. Silver (http://www.claremont.org/silver1.htm)
Table of Contents
- 1. Meet Calvin Coolidge
- 2. Growing Up
- 3. Law and Politics
- 4. To the Statewide Scene
- 5. Governor Coolidge
- 6. The Boston Police Strike
- 7. The Nominee
- 8. Vice President
- 9. President
- 10. In His Own Right
- 11. Domestic Affairs
- 12. Foreign Relations
- 13. The Last Year
- 14. Retirement
