Burlington, as a mantle of fog rolls in off Lake Champlain

“Burlington is beautiful at any season of the year…But to me she is most beautiful when a mantle of pure white snow covers her warm breast, when the branches of the trees are bare and the limbs of the evergreen trees are weighted down to graceful curves resembling ostrich plumes tipped with shimmering white. Then there is a crispness in the air that brings roses to the cheeks, laughter to the lips, and a sparkle to the eyes.

“I do not know who was the first to call her the ‘Queen City’ but we, her children, have a royal heritage which makes us kings and queens by right of birth. I arrived to claim my own during one of those cold snaps in midwinter when the mercury in the outside thermometer had dropped until it was nearly all collected in the round bulb at the bottom of the thin glass tube…

“I know nothing of astrology nor the reading of the stars, but if there is a star of welcome I am sure that when I was born it presided over my destiny. After nine years I came to make three in the little family, which never increased to four. The sun, moon, and stars, in the opinion of my parents, revolved around my infant head, and never was a babe more tenderly loved and cared for than I” — Grace Coolidge, An Autobiography 2-3.

Happy Birthday, Mrs. Coolidge!

Politics, Personalities, USA, pic: circa 1925, Mrs Grace Coolidge, the First Lady to Calvin Coolidge, Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) became the 30th President of the United States 1923-1929 (Photo by Popperfoto/Getty Images)

The Coolidges, late 1932

It was a pleasant surprise, a welcome joy even, whenever the radio could carry the crisp, familiar words of the former President. Almost four years into retirement, “Cal” Coolidge was deeply missed at the close of 1932 going into 1933. It was a treat whenever his distinctive, memorable voice could be heard on the wireless hookup flowing right into each home. At the close of 1932, Coolidge sat down and wrote these words. They would prove to be the last written for public utterance before his untimely death just five days after the new year’s arrival.

Claude Bowers, zealous Democrat, author of multiple political party histories, and a regular columnist at the New York World

They went out from WINS headquartered at New York City’s Ritz Tower and were actually delivered by New York World columnist Claude Bowers, Mr. Coolidge pleading too weak a voice to record it himself.

Cal said:

“For the year 1933 it seems to me that we need cooperation and charity. The resources of our country are sufficient to met our requirements if we use them to help each other. We should cooperate to promote all kinds of business activity. We should do what we can in the way of charity. If all that is implied in these two words could be put into operation, not only would our economic condition begin steadily to improve but our destitute would secure ample relief. I can think of no better resolution for the new year than to work in these directions.”

May the year 2019 live up to Cal’s final wish for the country he loved so deeply and served so faithfully.

One of several shots by avid photographer Doris Ulmann, taken in 1929.

The popularity of “Ike” is encapsulated in his nickname…just as it is with “Cal.” These two enjoyed a height of popular admiration among regular folks that others just haven’t known. Initials for our Presidents may give tribute to a kind of giant personality – maybe a way of nodding to their mega presence in their times – but they had big enemies and never quite reached the humanity or pervasive likeability that “Cal” and “Ike” experienced and embodied. These two (Coolidge & Eisenhower) were easily identified as “regular Americans” chosen for a time to the highest office in the land. There just isn’t that human quality in Hoover. Even in TR (whose zeal and energy cannot but earn respect) hated the personable “Teddy” for himself (while loving cartoonist Berryman’s depiction of the cuddly bear TR declined to shoot that gave life to the world-renowned “Teddy Bear”), FDR, JFK (who is highly admired but retains a certain nostalgic distance or unapproachability), and LBJ (for all of their massive legacies) just don’t speak to the “regular American” the way Cal and Ike do.

The calming effect their public personalities conveyed contrasted sharply with the frenetic management styles of their predecessors. Regular Americans needed that restful quality and got it in both men. Nations do not benefit from constant upheaval, transformation or revolution. The times to pause, slow down and take stock of things are just as, if not more, important.

It is also telling that Ike was the last President to put budget surpluses together consecutively for two of his eight years, 1956-57. Of course, Cal did it six times, every year of his tenure but Ike was the last President to date to prevent a deficit and present a surplus. The tax policy that fueled the substantial growth across the economic spectrum during the 1920s served to inspire both Ike and JFK to emulate Cal’s twofold example: (1) Reduce federal spending, resisting the temptation to prop up thereby wasteful uses of capital; and (2) Cut marginal rates for those least able to afford high taxation while incentivizing investment, job creation, and innovation. It was the abandonment of those two pillars of Cal’s example which led to economic collapse and prolonged depression in the 1930s and 1970s.