On Morrow and Coolidge

May 5, 2013May 5, 2013 / gouverneurmorris / Leave a comment

Dwight Morrow, Amherst classmate and one of Coolidge’s earliest supporters, was mistakenly assumed to be among a small, select group of close advisers to the President. He, like Stearns (and nearly everyone else considered “close”) was kept at a distance because Coolidge respected their abilities but knew that the final decision rested with him alone. Coolidge would not entertain favoritism nor allow the perception that he was appointing “friends” to positions over considerations of merit. That is why he refrained from using Morrow’s great abilities for years. When he did appoint Morrow, it was to seemingly insignificant and temporal tasks, such as an Aeronautics Defense Commission or as Ambassador to Mexico. In each case, Morrow acquitted himself better than before. In the process, he established a reputation of sound judgment, unimpeachable character and preparedness for the next task. He was loyal all of his life to Coolidge. In one of the few conversations he had with “Calvin” in college, the future president told him something he never forgot and to which he aspired the rest of his life,

“One should never trouble about getting a better job. But one should do one’s present job in such a manner as to qualify for a better job when it comes along (Nicholson, ‘Dwight Morrow: A Biography,’ p. 87).”

Morrow would keep that perspective with him, even seeing it manifested in Coolidge’s incredible rise. When a friend expressed his amazement at what has been called “the Coolidge luck,” Coolidge’s rising to top positions by sheer “good fortune,” Morrow retorted, “but, he always reaches the second place by sheer merit.” Writing to the new President immediately upon hearing of Harding’s death, he said,

“Three years ago in Worcester I told you in all sincerity that I was convinced that you were better equipped in character and in training to serve this nation as its President than any of the other possible candidates that were being discussed. That conviction was based upon your character as I knew it and your long training in public affairs. I have never changed that belief. The greatest responsibility that rests upon any man in the world has now come to you. No former Vice President who succeeded to the Presidency by the death of the President was confronted with responsibilities as great. Your whole life’s training fits you for your mighty task; and the faith that you expressed in the closing line of your short statement made in Vermont is the faith that all your real friends will share…”

Similar to Coolidge, Morrow was inspired to public service by Professor Garman at Amherst. Morrow would be a competent observer of people all of his life. He was not far behind Frank W. Stearns in seeing more to Coolidge than most did. Coolidge, as he prepared to leave the Presidency, would give his finest tribute of Morrow’s abilities by recommending to Herbert Hoover that Morrow become the next Secretary of State. Coolidge would never interject his preferences on Hoover, save this one time. The fact that it was for Morrow speaks volumes. It underscored the sharp differences between Coolidge and Hoover that the latter imprudently refused.

Years before, however, Morrow would try to explain himself to Stearns before giving some advice he knew Stearns could relay to Coolidge, “You may look upon me, because of my associations, as a conservative, but I really think I have been all my life something of a radical. I have tried, of course, to be radical along lines that would help instead of along lines that would simply throw the existing machinery out of gear.” A reminder to many a modern “activist” that one does not need to “scrap the foundations” to best improve current conditions. Morrow continued, explaining to the businessman, that there are two basic types of people, in a way far more fundamental than Party allegiance or even political alignment,

“For the last year I have been abroad dealing with all sorts of government officials. Some of them have been Socialists like [Albert] Thomas, the great Socialist leader in France. Some of them have come from old conservative families, like Lord Robert Cecil, son of the Marquis of Salisbury. I have about come to the conclusion that the division of the people of the world is not really between conservative and radical, but between people that are real people and people that are not. Calvin is one of the fellows who is real. He really wants to make things better, not to pretend to make them better…” (Nicholson 231).

Dwight W. Morrow in 1925. His sudden death in the fall of 1931 would be a profound loss to the country, and lay an even heavier grief upon one of his oldest friends, Calvin Coolidge.

Governor Calvin Coolidge

May 2, 2013May 2, 2013 / gouverneurmorris / Leave a comment

Governor Calvin Coolidge

John Derbyshire, speaking as the character Chai, writes of Coolidge, “Closer study revealed some harmonics. Humor, certainly. Something in the turn of the mouth…something impish, irreverent, boyish. Yet a steadiness in the eyes–a certitude weightier than mere smugness. Beneath the clerkishness, great strength and wisdom. I trusted this man at once, and wanted to know him better” (‘Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream,’ p.23).

The trust he earned went deeper than his office, it went to the soundness of his character, the power of his philosophy, the confidence without arrogance that he conveyed and the consistency of his actions.

This is what makes him so threatening to those who reject the finality of what the Founders discovered regarding human nature and society. In place of truths like equality before God and a government of limited power, there has come an institutionalized inequality maintained through a virtually unlimited control by a few. America’s experiment of self-government, with its moral nature cut away, is fast becoming the playground of despots and libertines.

It is up to us, serious-minded and mature citizens, to summon the courage and responsibility necessary to be worthy of freedom.

On Great Examples

April 30, 2013May 2, 2013 / gouverneurmorris / Leave a comment

“This Governor of Massachusetts, deep in public service, was by temperament a private man. In public reticent and unwilling to speak, he conversed constantly in closed meetings, in quiet conferences, and on the telephone….he never said more than he had to, and he said it once…His program was not one of sweeping changes, but one of small steps toward his goals: curtailed expenditures, reduced indebtedness, and increased legislative self-discipline…His administration was unspectacular and widely praised; he had not been expected, or elected to introduce grand reforms…He was the classic man-behind-the-scenes. Avoiding limelight and applause, he was a man who ‘knew,’ a collector of information, an acute observer who had many sources…With an easy private approach to individuals, he won their confidence; with sound perceptions, he gained their respect. His colleagues knew that he could keep a secret. He was honest, not extravagantly frank, and eminently sensible, with a deep knowledge of men and a wide grasp of affairs” (Carolyn W. Johnson’s book, pp.24, 29, 39).

One could read these descriptions and easily mistake them as a characterization of Calvin Coolidge. They were, instead, all about the man who had served as Governor while Coolidge rose in county politics, married Grace and found a living demonstration of the principled public service he would come to exemplify. The man was Winthrop Murray Crane. Nineteen years Coolidge’s senior, Crane had begun in business, working up through his family mills to secure the contract for printing paper currency for the nation.

He would establish a solid record as Governor, earn appointment to the Senate to complete the term of the late incumbent and serve eight years in Washington, returning again to a quiet service in his home state in 1913. It would conveniently coincide with Coolidge’s election as President of the State Senate, giving the younger Coolidge the benefit of Crane’s political wisdom and approach to leadership.

When older men fail to exert the influence for good and young men take the advantage of experience for granted, society suffers for it. When young men instead seek out their peers or surround themselves with equally short-sighted “mentors,” devoid of character, rights and responsibilities are both at risk. Like the naive young Rehoboam in 1 Kings 12, who divided the kingdom because of his pride, we are living in times that need wise men and women.

In offering his thoughts on so valuable a friend, worthy example and faithful public servant, President Coolidge, writing five years after the great man’s passing, introduced a biography of him entitled, “W. Murray Crane: A Man and Brother,” with these words: “More people trusted him than any one else of who I can think, because of his broad human sympathy. He seemed to have a fellow feeling for every one to such an extent that he could make their wants and desires his own. He had a broader comprehension of American life, reaching from the humblest fireside through all the various activities of the business and political world, than any other man of his time. Of course many others excelled him in special directions and in details, but in the broad grasp of the whole he had no superior. He was a product of that intensive effort that has long characterized the men of prominence in his region, one of the best examples of American life on both its material and spiritual sides. The world is distinctly better because he lived in it.”

Though rising to the Presidency some day may not be in our future, we can resolve to exercise integrity and genuinely demonstrate for the young what trustworthy service and sound judgment are supposed to be. Who knows what powerful examples for good we can leave? It may be that we are the next Mr. Crane to a future Calvin Coolidge.