Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1923

November 28, 2013November 29, 2013 / gouverneurmorris / 2 Comments

Continuing the custom instituted by President Washington in 1789, the new President, reflecting over the past year, composed in 1923 the first of six Thanksgiving Proclamations during his service in the White House. It echoes the thanks we owe the Lord not only for His goodness to us this year but also for the exceptional success His favor and providential care have given to America, now in its two hundred and thirty-seventh year since independence:

“The American people, from their earliest days, have observed the wise custom of acknowledging each year the bounty with which divine Providence has favored them. In the beginnings, this acknowledgment was a voluntary return of thanks by the community for the fruitfulness of the harvest. Though our mode of life has greatly changed, this custom has always survived. It has made thanksgiving day not only one of the oldest but one of the most characteristic observances of our country. On that day, in home and church, in family and public gatherings, the whole nation has for generations paid the tribute due from grateful hearts for blessings bestowed.

“To center our thought in this way upon the favor which we have been shown has been altogether wise and desirable. It has given opportunity justly to balance the good and the evil which we have experienced. In that we have never failed to find reasons for being grateful to God for a generous preponderance of the good. Even in the least propitious times, a broad contemplation of our whole position has never failed to disclose overwhelming reasons for thankfulness. Thus viewing our situation, we have found warrant for a more hopeful and confident attitude toward the future.

“In this current year, we now approach the time which has been accepted by custom as most fitting for the calm survey of our estate and the return of thanks. We shall the more keenly realize our good fortune, if we will, in deep sincerity, give to it due thought, and more especially, if we will compare it with that of any other community in the world…

“…We have been blessed with much of material prosperity. We shall be better able to appreciate it if we remember the privations others have suffered, and we shall be the more worthy of it if we use it for their relief. We will do well then to render thanks for the good that has come to us, and show by our actions that we have become stronger, wiser, and truer by the chastenings which have been imposed upon us. We will thus prepare ourselves for the part we must take in a world which forever needs the full measure of service. We have been a most favored people. We ought to be a most generous people. We have been a most blessed people. We ought to be a most thankful people.

“Wherefore, I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States, do hereby fix and designate Thursday, the twenty-ninth day of November, as Thanksgiving Day, and recommend its general observance throughout the land. It is urged that the people, gathering in their homes and their usual places of worship, give expression to their gratitude for the benefits and blessings that a gracious Providence has bestowed upon them, and seek the guidance of Almighty God, that they may deserve a continuance of His favor.

“In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

“Done at the City of Washington, this 5th day of November, in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States, the One Hundred and Forty-eighth.”

On Reasons for Optimism

November 25, 2013November 25, 2013 / gouverneurmorris / 1 Comment

“However powerful the forces of evil may appear, somewhere there are more powerful forces of righteousness” — Calvin Coolidge, April 22, 1918

“It is never the part of wisdom to minimize the power of evil, but it is far less the part of wisdom to forget the power of good…The important truth remains that the forces of good, now as always, surpass the forces of evil” — April 13, 1923

“The first and most important [human motive], to which all else is subordinate, is that of righteousness. There is that in mankind, stronger than all else, which requires them to do right” — May 30, 1923

“It is necessary not only to have faith, but to make sacrifices for our faith. The spiritual forces of the world make all its final determinations” — December 6, 1923

“Something in all human beings makes them want to do the right thing. Not that this desire always prevails; oftentimes it is overcome and they turn towards evil. But some power is constantly calling them back. Ever there comes a resistance to wrongdoing. When bad conditions begun to accumulate, when the forces of darkness become prevalent, always they are ultimately doomed to fail, as the better angels of human nature are roused to resistance” — September 21, 1924

“It seems as though good influences had always been coming into my life. Perhaps I have been more fortunate in that respect than others. But while I am not disposed to minimuze the amount of evil in the world I am convinced that the good predominates and that it is constantly all about us, ready for our service if only we will accept it” — The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, 1929, p.54-55.

“The only way I know to drive out evil from the country is by the constructive method of filling it with good. The country is better off tranquilly considering its blessings and merits, and earnestly striving to secure more of them, than it would be in nursing hostile bitterness about its deficiencies and faults” — The Autobiography, p.186.

“I will elaborate…by saying nothing”

November 21, 2013November 22, 2013 / gouverneurmorris / 2 Comments

A sizable group of visitors had arrived to be photographed with President Coolidge on the South lawn. Having made clear to them long before their arrival that the President would have no formal remarks, Coolidge’s secretary Everett Sanders could not convince the head of the delegation, who stubbornly believed a Presidential address was imminent, saying, “I am delighted to learn that the president is to make us a little speech.”

What was Sanders to do? If he failed to convince the man that President Coolidge would not be speaking, the meeting might fail, support might be lost or worse, the President would be forced to go back on his prior arrangement. The secretary recounts what happened,

“I went in and explained to the president how many times I had told them he could not make a speech, so that if they called on him he would understand.”

Did Coolidge “play along” in order to save face, avoid a public relations fallout or back-pedal on his agreement? Sanders continued, “As he started to join them, the president said to me, with a smile, ‘If they have not understood, I will elaborate on what you have said by saying nothing.’ ”

Coolidge did not live in the artificial world of those who constantly brood over and adjust identity to cater to public perceptions. He remained himself and if people understood that, fine…if not, the opportunity to understand it remained in their hands. He would not go back on his word to conform to a mistaken impression. He was his own man and people could take it or leave it. Infusing levity into the situation was important as well because it introduced a healthy sense of proportion, a return to reality. He understood people eventually see through the fake and fraudulent. He resolved to remain authentic from the start, knowing that people respect sincerity and honesty. This requires disciplined confidence and personal courage. It is what sets the statesman apart from the politician. Coolidge understood what far too many officeholders, waffling in expediency, have yet to learn about themselves, people in general or the fundamentals of statecraft.