Note the book being presented to President Coolidge in these photos by Miss Ruth Muskrat and her Cherokee delegation on December 13, 1923. The book was a study of conditions on the reservations and around the country for him to address. The book they were proud to give him was entitled, The Red Man in the United States, a Survey of the Present-Day American Indian. The problem is not that we, as a people, are failing to be sensitive enough but that we are overly sensitive about the inconsequential and non-essential things. We wring our hands about potentially giving offense with words while we overlook and disassociate any responsibility that a century and a half of the reservation system has done in destroying lives, killing the spirit as well as the body and leaving generations of people stripped of dignity and beholden to government. Under Coolidge, they secured a long awaited and full citizenship. Moreover, he ensured the Meriam Report investigated independently of Washington’s bureaucracy what needed to be done. Commissioned in 1926, completed in 1928 and funded entirely through the Rockefeller Foundation, without any taxpayer money, the Meriam Report shook the status quo, overturning the old land allotment system and exposing the inherent failures of a Federal paternalism over education, health, social life, economics, and political consent. Partnered citizens not continued segregation as subordinates became the standard under Cal. While the Report would see early implementation by able administrators, the gains made would be undermined after Coolidge left public life.

A group of those who contributed to the meticulous study of conditions at 95 locations in 23 states done by the Institute for Government Research (Brookings Institute).

Grange, the “Galloping Ghost,” on the field, 1925.

In Washington between games on a nationwide tour, the great University of Illinois running back, Harold “Red” Grange, then playing with George Halas’ Chicago Bears, stopped in to meet the President at the White House.

Coolidge, as was his way, met the introduction with dry New England humor. It was one of those moments Colonel Starling and Will Rogers would later evoke when they said Coolidge expended more wit than most people realized at the time. Either one “got the joke” or did not. The President would not waste time and thereby destroy the humor in circumstances with an elaborate set up for his punchlines.

Accompanied by Illinois Senator William B. McKinley and Representative William P. Holaday, the auburn-haired “Red” was presented to the redheaded Chief Executive. “Mr. President, Red Grange, who plays with the Bears.” Capitalizing on that direct introduction, Cal replied with a handshake, “Glad to meet you, young man. I always did like animal acts.” Asking from where in Illinois the “Galloping Ghost” lived, he wished him well on the rest of his tour. Mr. Grange, interviewed many years later, still recalled that day. “I didn’t think it was funny at the time,” but the football legend came to appreciate the humor in Coolidge’s remarks. Despite having a pivotal role in the national appeal of football, Grange, not unlike the man he met that early December day, went on to leave his sport at the height of renown, including charter membership in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and experienced what he considered his proudest accomplishments in the business of selling insurance. Like Mrs. Coolidge, he became a lifelong fan…of baseball. He never quite caught the football-watching bug, though he attend various games through the years.

“Red” Grange (in the middle, with scarf) just after meeting the President, accompanied by Senator McKinley and Representative Holaday, December 8, 1925. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The folks at Acton Institute remind us why Calvin Coolidge is worth renewed study. His selfless and impassioned efforts as a civic educator have survived the most persistent critics. He saw the inherent weakness of socialism and the failure of “Big Government” years before the New Deal and Great Society. Long after those naive experiments have proven empty and destructive, Coolidge’s philosophy demonstrates the resilience of the Founder’s vision for a modern Republic of limited government, maximum individual responsibility and moral leadership. Though he is gone, he still speaks.