On September 21, 1976

February 6, 2014February 6, 2014 / gouverneurmorris / 2 Comments

While today marks the 103rd anniversary of Ronald W. Reagan’s birth, he would appreciate the focus not upon him but the reappraisal that is underway of an exceptional, yet far underrated, predecessor. A thoughtful admirer of Calvin Coolidge, President Reagan proved that “Silent Cal’s” economic model is anything but outmoded or theoretical: universal tax cuts spur growth and expand opportunity for everyone. The accomplishments of the 1980s, while by no means complete or consistent with Coolidge’s full record, demonstrated that moving back toward individual liberty and away from a massive government bureaucracy still works. It accomplishes genuine results, establishes peaceful progress and preserves opportunity to move forward and upward as free individuals. “Big Government” can only promise material goods without substantive delivery, disrupt social advances and destroy individual potential. Coolidge’s example — slashing tax rates four times combined with drastic annual reductions in Federal spending while paying down the national debt, $5 billion paid during his tenure alone — will work anywhere, anyplace, anytime. It only requires the will and courage to translate those principles into policy. The current administration, hostile to these proven precepts, continues to pull America further from its roots, the fertile soil of bold and disciplined leaders like Coolidge.

Heading into the election of 1976, as the nation stood poised to elect Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan (four years before the Presidency) took the occasion of his radio broadcast to deliver one of the most cogent expositions of why Coolidge still matters. His words, spoken almost forty years ago, ring truer now than they did at the time,

“The names of some Presidents are invoked by spokesmen of both political parties as ‘men for all seasons,’ epitomizing the greatness of America, Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson etc. Then there are Presidents whose names are brought in party circles, hailed as great but, if acknowledged by the other party at all with NOT quite the same enthusiasm.

“There are also two lists of Presidential names – one for each party, usually held up to view for strictly partisan purposes. Each party lists past Presidents of the opposing party as examples of that party’s terrible record.

“The Democrats for example get laughs by mentioning Silent Cal Coolidge. And truth is many Republicans chuckle a little and go along with the idea that he was a do nothing President. Sometimes I wonder if he really was a ‘do nothing’ or was he a little like a Life Guard on the beach who also seems to be doing very little when there is no emergency. If you take a closer look he is quietly being watchful.

“Cal Coolidge is good for laughs but not all of them are at his expense. There was the press conference where a persistent reporter asked the President if he had anything to say about prohibition? Cal said ‘No.’ ‘Any comments on the world court?’ – ‘No.’ – “What about the farm situation?” Again the answer was ‘no.’ The reporter said, ‘You don’t seem to have any comment about anything.’ Coolidge said, ‘No comment & don’t quote me.’

“Probably no President has ever lived in the White House and maintained so unchanged his previous life style. Which in Coolidge’s case was the simple, even frugal life he had lived on a New England farm.

“Shortly after he became President he sent his teenage son into the tobacco fields to work in the summer as he always had. One of the other workers surprised at this said to the young Coolidge, ‘if my father were President I wouldn’t be out here working in the field.’ Young Coolidge said, ‘If my father were your father, you would.’

“But while ‘Silent Cal’ seemed to be doing nothing as President, the federal budget actually went down and so did the national debt. Consumer prices fell but unemployment stayed at the figure we only dream of – 3.5 % which means everyone who wanted a job had one. Federal taxes were cut four times.

“The number of automobiles on our streets and highways tripled during his years in the White House and radio sales went up 1400%.

“In just the 5 years from 1922 to 27 the purchasing power of wages rose 10%. It was a kind of ‘Golden Era,’ in other ways. Hollywood would never again be more glamorous and there were giants in the sports arenas whose names are still legend – the Manassas Mauler, Jack Dempsey, Knute Rockne, The 4 Horsemen, Red Grange, Babe Ruth and Big Bill Tilden. No I’m not saying President Coolidge was responsible for them but they were larger than life figures that went with America’s place in the world.

“So what if he was a ‘do nothing” President. Do you suppose doing nothing had something to do with reducing the budget, redu’ing the debt, and cutting taxes 4 times?

“This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.”

Taken from Reagan’s Path to Victory:The Shaping of Ronald Reagan’s Vision: Selected Writings (pp.72-74).

Portrait of Coolidge with Rob Roy by DeWitt M. Lockman, 1931. Commissioned for the New York Historical Society.

“Better Than Reagan” on the Dennis Miller Show

February 5, 2014February 5, 2014 / gouverneurmorris / Leave a comment

“Better Than Reagan” on the Dennis Miller Show

Yesterday Coolidge was the topic for discussion on the Dennis Miller Show. Mr. Miller spoke to Amity Shlaes about her biography of the thirtieth president. It highlights how after ninety years, Cal is no longer silent on the airwaves. The man and his principles are once again experiencing a welcome renewal of public conversation.

“Seems to be opposition to my administration already”

February 4, 2014February 5, 2014 / gouverneurmorris / Leave a comment

Photo of Coolidge and his Cabinet, taken in the winter of 1924. Notice the changes in personnel from the ones inherited from Harding at Attorney General and the Navy and Agriculture Departments.

Photo of Coolidge and his Cabinet, taken in the winter of 1924. Back Row: Andrew Mellon, Treasury; Harlan Stone, Attorney General; Curtis Wilbur, Navy; Howard Gore, Agriculture; James J. Davis, Labor; Front Row: Charles Evans Hughes, State; John Weeks, War; Harry New, Postmaster General; Hubert Work, Interior; and Herbert Hoover, Commerce. Notice there are three changes in personnel since Coolidge succeeded to the Presidency, replacing Daugherty at the Justice Department, Denby at Navy and Wallace at Agriculture. Lincoln’s portrait hangs above the mantle.

The President sat at the head of the table with the entire Cabinet assembled for the first time on August 14, 1923. The Coolidges, never ones to nurse grudges or harbor retaliation (despite Mrs. Harding’s refusal to accept the donation of a Vice Presidential residence on behalf of the Coolidges), gave the widow time and a full use of White House rooms before moving in themselves in late August. As the Department officers sat around the table they had known for two years, there was much upon which to reflect. There was especially much for which to be appreciative, despite the loss of their great chief. It was indeed fortunate that someone so capable was there to step into the late President’s chair, not only cleaning up the multiple messes inherited but building on the work begun by Harding. Applying greater resolve, consistency and substance than anyone around that table initially anticipated, Coolidge, fully in command, would present his expectations for how things would operate in the days and months ahead.

Enthusiasm gave way to sober introspection as one man proposed a cheer for new President Coolidge only to be firmly shut down by the others. The other Department heads quickly responded that this was not the time for effusion but silence, especially with Mrs. Harding still in the White House. It was at such a remark that the new President replied with what would prove to be the first of many dry retorts. It was precisely the time to laugh a little before returning to the work awaiting everyone. Coolidge knew that levity served a necessary purpose, especially in the difficult times. He would face some intense opposition in the coming years, but he set the tone at the outset with an effective supply of ready humor and humble self-deprecation. Just as important as laughing at the humor in a situation is being strong enough to laugh at one’s self. Coolidge could do both. The serious and whimsical qualities of his nature were, as Colonel Starling noted, “mixed, so that the one interpenetrated the other.” To Starling, “it seemed a step forward in evolution, for the serious side of life needs to be looked at with the tolerance and understanding which a sense of humor provides, and our laughter should be grounded in an understanding of the spiritual purpose of our existence” (Morris K. Udall, Too Funny to Be President, p. 233).

Chaplin and Sennett seen together in The Fatal Mallet, 1914. Mabel Normand stands between them.

Charlie Chaplin and Mack Sennett seen together in The Fatal Mallet, 1914. Mabel Normand stands between them.

The thirtieth President, as someone has observed, was “not only the master of the understatement but commander of the punch line” (Sloane, Humor in the White House, p.51). As director Mack Sennett, the original “King of Comedy,” once said, Coolidge was an “expert practitioner” when it came to the art of “deadpan” humor. Coolidge’s brand of comedy consisted not merely of the Vermonter’s grasp of comedic expression but also a “highly developed sense of timing,” as Sloane observes (p.50). Coolidge applied a unshakable seriousness of mind and tenacity to his work that would markedly set him apart from most of his predecessors, especially Harding. Yet, through it all, he also injected a healthy balance of good humor from a deep reservoir of dry wit to lighten burdens, entertain himself and, most importantly, to bring a sense of proportion back to the situation. As Coolidge had learned from his days in Massachusetts and throughout those first few years under President Harding, Washington needed perspective then as it does now, an ample dose of truthful insight combined with a readiness to make light of the absurd, even when the source of that absurdity is policy, Parties, politicians or the President himself.