individualism

Home at Last, March 5, 1929

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Home at Last, March 5, 1929

The Coolidges pictured as they return home to their home at 21 Massasoit Street, Northampton, after stepping off the train from Washington. Mr. Coolidge would return only once more to the capital city that summer to participate in the Kellogg Treaty ceremonies. However, they were both ready to be finished with public office.

Filling out his National Press Club membership card around this time, under “Occupation” he penned an emphatic “Retired” adding even more emphatically “Glad of it!” It was time to return to the people from which they had come, voluntarily laying down the Nation’s leadership to others. It was time to be home.

On Getting Back to First Principles

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Calvin Coolidge standing the old Cabinet Room of the West Wing.

Calvin Coolidge standing in the old Cabinet Room, established by President Taft, on the West Wing of the White House.

“We always have the defeatists with us. Washington had them…Lincoln had them…Wilson had them during the war to such an extent that he found it necessary to turn over the conduct of important legislation to Republican leadership. We have them at the present time doing their best to capitalize distress and preaching the overthrow of our system of economics and government. It is these forces more than depression which render our condition critical.

“If we have the courage and vision to maintain our governmental and social structure we can meet all other problems. The forces of discord always work in an insidious way. They often attempt to conceal the peril of their unsound proposals under the claim that they are liberal. When that is analyzed it usually means that they intend to give away the money which someone else has earned. Such a process, once started, is bound to increase until it lands the country in universal bankruptcy and general disintegration. It is a time when the great body of our people of common sense should not be stampeded, but should stand firm. In spite of all declarations to the contrary, of the professions of platforms and candidates, the record of two generations discloses that the safety of the country lies in the success of the principles of the Republican Party” — former President Calvin Coolidge, September 10, 1932.

On the Tyranny of Government Flouting the Law

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Calvin Coolidge, May 9, 1924

Calvin Coolidge, May 9, 1924

“Ours, as you know, is a government of limited powers. The Constitution confers the authority for certain actions upon the President and the Congress, and specifically prohibits them from taking other actions. This is done to protect the rights and liberties of the people. The Government is limited, on the people are absolute. Whenever the legislative or executive power undertakes to overstep the bounds of its limitations, any person who is injured may resort to the courts for protection and remedy. We do not submit the precious rights of the people to the hazard of a prejudiced and irresponsible political determination, but preserve and protect them by an independent and impartial judicial determination. We do not expose the rights of the weak to the danger of being overcome in the public forum by public uproar, but protect them in the sanctity of the courtroom, where the still, small voice will not fail to be heard. Any attempt to change this method of procedure is an attempt to put the people again in jeopardy of the impositions and the tyrannies from which the first Continental Congress sought to deliver them. The only position that Americans can take is that they are against all despotism whether it emanate from a monarch, from a parliament, or from a mob” — President Coolidge, Philadelphia, September 25, 1924.