On the Individual

June 9, 2013June 11, 2013 / gouverneurmorris / Leave a comment

It was on Memorial Day in Northampton, 1923, that Vice President Coolidge said,

“…[I]f our republic is to be maintained and improved it will be through the efforts and character of the individual. It will be, first of all, because of the influences which exist in the home, for it is the ideals which prevail in the home life which make up the strength of the nation. The homely virtues must continue to be cultivated. The real dignity, the real nobility of work must be cherished. It is only through industry that there is any hope for individual development. The viciousness of waste and the value of thrift must continue to be learned and understood. Civilization rests on conservation. To these there must be added religion, education, and obedience to law. These are the foundation of all character in the individual and all hope in the nation.”

When Coolidge spoke of conservation here, he was speaking of its broad sense, the preservation of not merely material resources but moral ones. If the Republic is to continue, it will be due to the moral resources of the individual, not the powers of Government. He was no libertarian nor sympathetic to objectivism, both notions that would have struck him as self-defeating and short-sighted. He knew the individual was not liberated from public responsibilities to his or her neighbor. He also knew the government had a clear role to legislate and demand obedience to law. No man was absolutely free in the exercise of one’s rights or duties. Such was a responsibility to each other as we live together in society. His outlook was rooted in a far more resilient foundation, the example of service set by Christ.

It is the individual with the real power to uphold the soundness of our future. It was the deep reservoir of an individual’s moral capital that make civilization possible, the value of whom is bestowed by God, nurtured by the instructions of the home, instilled with virtues like thrift, strengthened by religious faith, and developed with an informed mind that retains reverence for the supremacy of the law upon all people. It was the individual that would keep Benjamin Franklin’s warning from fulfillment. A Republic, with duty-minded individuals such as Coolidge describes (as opposed to the self-centered or hedonistic) would find faithful men and women through whom to entrust its legacy to the next generation. Devoid of such individuals, no civilization is secure.

On Opportunity and Progress

June 6, 2013June 11, 2013 / gouverneurmorris / Leave a comment

Today marks two historic occasions. The second is better known and, while far more expansive a triumph than the first, it gives further validation to the first. That second occasion is, of course, the Allied Invasion of Normandy, 1944, establishing a beachhead from which to advance inland that led to the liberation of France, the defeat of the Nazi regime, and the rescue of Western Europe by the United States military and our allies across Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Lesser known were the actions of the 332d Fighter Group, the Tuskegee Airmen, in the Mediterranean and northward, as they contributed significantly to the push inland to meet those heading south from Normandy. Still, lesser known are the actions of the 2d Cavalry Division, the 92d and 93d Infantry or the numerous armored and artillery units as well as the 51st and 52d Defense Battalions in the Marine Corps who served in every theater of the Second World War just as courageously as the countless other units of our military. The men who comprised those units, contrary to many who assume racism prevented such occurrences, were what we now dub, “African-Americans” or “minorities.” They would fight alongside the other units scrapping their way across Europe to get to Berlin and defeat the Third Reich. These brave men and women echoed the testament of real progress demonstrated in World War I by 350,000 volunteers in the armed forces, including the illustrious 369th Infantry.

The first occasion was President Coolidge’s speak at Howard University on this day in 1924. On that day he would express his thoughts on the progress of “black Americans” since emancipation, sixty-one years before. Considering the entire span of human history, Coolidge lauded the tremendous advancements of so brave and worthy a people when it took hundreds of years for “white men” to grow from slavery to liberty. They had accomplished it in less than one hundred years. Where most saw poverty and permanent dependence for the “African-American,” Coolidge saw immense potential. In a very real way, he saw more promise in them than they now recognize in themselves. Where many still see unending racism and deprivation, Coolidge kindly points the way to greater progress and opportunity.

First. Coolidge would tabulate the genuine marks of economic growth that had come to these fellow citizens,

“Looking back only a few years, we appreciate how rapid has been the progress of the colored people on this continent. Emancipation brought them the opportunity of which they have availed themselves. It has been calculated that in the first year following acceptance of their status as a free people, there were approximately 4,000,000 members of the race in this country, and that among these only 12,000 were the owners of their homes; only 20,000 among them conducted their own farms, and the aggregate wealth of these 4,000,000 people hardly exceeded $20,000,000. In a little over half a century since, the number of business enterprises operated by colored people had grown to near 50,000, while the wealth of the Negro community has grown to more than $1,100,000,000. And these figures convey a most inadequate suggestion of the material progress. The 2,000 business enterprises which were in the hands of colored people immediately following emancipation were almost without exception small and rudimentary. Among the 50,000 business operations now in the hands of colored people may be found every type of present-day affairs. There are more than 70 banks conducted by thoroughly competent colored business men. More than 80 per cent of all American Negroes are now able to read and write. When they achieved their freedom not 10 per cent were literate. There are nearly 2,000,000 Negro pupils in the public schools; well-nigh 40,000 Negro teachers are listed, more than 3,000 following their profession in normal schools and colleges. The list of educational institutions devoting themselves to the race includes 50 colleges, 13 colleges for women, 26 theological schools, a standard school of law, and 2 high-grade institutions of medicine. Through the work of these institutions the Negro race is equipping men and women from its own ranks to provide its leadership in business, the professions, and all relations of life.”

Howard University was and remains a monumental contributor to that calling of advancement, starting with the mind and soul through education. Coolidge was not naive to the prospect of eradicating all future difficulties, for, he continued, “Racial hostility, ancient tradition, and social prejudice are not to be eliminated immediately or easily. But they will be lessened as the colored people by their own efforts and under their own leaders shall prove worthy of the fullest measure of opportunity.” Have today’s leaders fulfilled that high calling envisioned by Coolidge?

The President would drive the point home by recalling the countless sacrifices of life and security by over than 2,250,000 individuals who volunteered.for service in the First World War. The cause of liberty compelled them just as strongly as it did all those who willingly gave of themselves for the ideals of America. Coolidge knew they served and sacrificed for ideals, not just the reality of life at home, even with the gains of economic benefit he noted earlier. They were Americans all, possessing the full blessings and rights of citizenship. It is on this day, with the memory of so many who fought and gave their all, that Coolidge would reflect with pride and love for an America that made all this possible. So many suffer abuse and misuse around the world, denied the opportunity to experience their God-given potential. Coolidge reminds us to appreciate the doors opened for the first time in human history when America has given people, of all backgrounds, the opportunity to thrive and reap the rewards of their own efforts. Do we have the confidence and determination to realize the potential Coolidge saw possible for us?

On Leading By Example

June 5, 2013October 5, 2013 / gouverneurmorris / Leave a comment

Example is the heart of leadership. Anyone can tell someone what to do, how it should be done and what will happen when instructions are not followed. In short, anyone can be a bureaucrat. Possessing leadership is something entirely different. While it is not always, and some would say not usually, an official position, the approach of successful leaders follows the same course every time. Without a conscientious commitment to duty manifested in example, one is merely “that jerk” in the office. By throwing one’s weight around, reminding people of your authority, and refusing to put hand to the wheel and work, especially when conditions burden everyone, it only breeds resentment and exposes an utter lack of one’s qualifications to lead. Without the keen sense of moral obligation tempered with humility, even Presidents reveal their mettle.

Leadership is not simply who has the most ideas, consider Herbert Hoover. Leadership is not simply who has the most amiable personality, consider Warren Harding. Leadership, especially of Chief Executives, is a profound call to serve, not be served. The inconsistency between one’s words and one’s actions could not be hidden forever and for honest leaders, such is never tolerable. For men like Coolidge, the oath and the office were serious responsibilities to be exercised with utmost respect and self-discipline. Those who lack such qualities are never able to conceal them completely from the people.

The inception of the Budget Bureau illustrates the strength of Coolidge’s leadership. The Bureau was the result of some nine years of persistent effort to bring about responsible budgeting at the national level. In the latter half of the nineteenth century, some twenty-eight consecutive years had kept balanced budgets, ensuring that government expenditures were carefully met within revenues. Surpluses defined these years and it was simply a matter of good sense to so manage the public household. That began to change with the feckless habits of the Benjamin Harrison years and when deficits hit six years in a row, from 1904-1910, something had to be done. It was President Taft who advocated replacing the piecemeal approach with a coordinated and deliberate budgeting process for all government departments. They would go through a formal system that prioritized cutting waste and practicing the strict economy it preached to others. It would be sidelined during the Wilson administration, underscoring how those considered the most “forward-thinking” today would be left in the dust by conservatives such as Taft, Harding and Coolidge, the latter being the most tenacious advocate of modern budgeting. It would be under Harding that the two Congressional bills for this concept would find effective support and quick passage into law as the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921. The Bureau found realization with Harding’s prudent selection of General Charles Dawes, as its first Director. Suitably, Dawes would serve alongside Coolidge as his bold and flamboyant Vice President.

It would be Coolidge, however, (with Bureau Director, General Herbert Mayhew Lord) who would bring both a meticulous and relentless approach to cutting down the debt and restoring surpluses. Continuing to hack away at every possible area of waste, the President, General Lord and his staff of 45 people, ensured that government spending was kept down despite constant efforts to the contrary. At the end of six straight years of surpluses, the nation’s debt had dropped to $16.9 from $22.3 billion at the beginning of Coolidge’s Presidency. Directing those growing surpluses toward productive ends became more and more difficult as Congress sought increased spending levels rather than returning those surpluses to taxpayers in the form of tax cuts, as Coolidge sought.

The Coolidge Administration, and his team of Mellon and Lord did more than talk about benefiting people with these policies, they lived them. Lord’s Bureau was proud of the fact that it used every supply until it wore out. Mellon would give $52 million of his personal income to charity, giving to people generations in the future, not including his generous gifts to the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian. Coolidge, ever conscious of his moral duty to Americans, saved much of his Presidential salary and, when his friends sought to establish his official library (before such entities were funded by public money), he gave it all to help the blind. These were leaders not by virtue of their position in government or their campaign rhetoric but by virtue of their genuine demonstration of service toward others. It is time for a renewed commitment to leadership by example.