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Coolidge Paperback – February 4, 2014
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“Amity Shlaes’s new biography carries a different and highly relevant message. . . . Read Coolidge, and better understand the forces bearing on the President and Congress almost a century later.” — Paul Volcker
From the bestselling author of The Forgotten Man comes a brilliant and provocative biography of our thirtieth president that reexamines this restrained, soft-spoken man — and the decade of growth that grew from his leadership.
Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man, delivers a brilliant and provocative reexamination of America’s thirtieth president, Calvin Coolidge, and the decade of unparalleled growth that the nation enjoyed under his leadership. In this riveting biography, Shlaes traces Coolidge’s improbable rise from a tiny town in New England to a youth so unpopular he was shut out of college fraternities at Amherst College up through Massachusetts politics. After a divisive period of government excess and corruption, Coolidge restored national trust in Washington and achieved what few other peacetime presidents have: He left office with a federal budget smaller than the one he inherited. A man of calm discipline, he lived by example, renting half of a two-family house for his entire political career rather than compromise his political work by taking on debt. Renowned as a throwback, Coolidge was in fact strikingly modern—an advocate of women’s suffrage and a radio pioneer. At once a revision of man and economics, Coolidge gestures to the country we once were and reminds us of qualities we had forgotten and can use today.
- Print length592 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarper Perennial
- Publication dateFebruary 4, 2014
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.95 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100061967599
- ISBN-13978-0061967597
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“History has paid little attention to the achievements of Coolidge because he seemed to be unduly passive. Yet Amity Shlaes, as his biographer, exposes the heroic nature of the man and brings to life one of the most vibrant periods in American economic history.” — Alan Greenspan
“Amity Shlaes’s new biography carries a different and highly relevant message. . . . Read Coolidge, and better understand the forces bearing on the President and Congress almost a century later.” — Evolving Woman
“To read Amity Shlaes’s well-crafted biography is to understand why Reagan so admired the famously reticent man whom Shlaes calls ‘our great refrainer.’” — George Pelecanos, on Northline
“Amity Shlaes’s extraordinary biography describes how a single politician can change an entire political culture -- a story with plenty of echoes today. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, doyenne of the Washington salons, first disdained Coolidge, then admired him. After reading Coolidge, every reader will, too.” — Anne Applebaum
“A marvelous book that is in many respects as subtle and powerful as Coolidge himself. Shlaes’s masterly command of economics, policy, and personal portraiture illustrates the times, talents, character, and courage of the consummate New Englander.” — Bookshelf
“Coolidge is a welcome new biography of a great American president. Amity Shlaes shines fresh light on a leader of humble persistence who unexpectedly found himself in the presidency and whose faith in the American people helped restore prosperity during a period of great turmoil. Amidst today’s economic hardships and an uncertain future, Shlaes illuminates a path forward -- making Coolidge a must-read for policymakers and citizens alike.” — Paul Ryan
“Timely and important. . . . The research is exhaustive, and the political and economic analysis sound.” — Wall Street Journal
“With a deft finger on today’s conservative pulse, Shlaes portrays Calvin Coolidge as a paragon of a president by virtue of his small-government policies.” — The New York Times Book Review -- Editor's Choice
“Amity Shlaes’s rich new biography reminds us that Calvin Coolidge must not be forgotten in our era of staggering government deficits and poisoned political rhetoric. . . . A finely muted drama.” — USA Today
“America’s 30th president has been much misunderstood. . . . Shlaes’s biography provides a window onto an unfairly tarnished period. It deserves to be widely read.” — The Economist
“Shlaes impresses readers with the single-mindedness of Coolidge’s pursuit. . . . For the next decade or so, it may be Amity Shlaes who has custody of Coolidge’s reputation.” — New Yorker
“Amity Shlaes’s new biography ushers in a long-overdue rehabilitation of the 30th president. . . . Coolidge is a compelling, endlessly rewarding, and persuasive contribution to historical scholarship.” — Weekly Standard
From the Back Cover
Calvin Coolidge never rated high in polls, and history has remembered the decade in which he served as an extravagant period predating the Great Depression. Amity Shlaes provides a fresh look at the 1920s—triumphant years in which the nation electrified, Americans drove their first cars, and the federal deficit was replaced with a surplus—and the little-known president behind them. Perhaps more than any other president, Coolidge understood that doing less could yield more, reducing the federal budget even as the economy grew, wages rose, taxes fell, and unemployment dropped.
In this illuminating, magisterial biography, Amity Shlaes captures the remarkable story of Calvin Coolidge and the decade of extraordinary prosperity that grew from his leadership.
About the Author
Amity Shlaes is the author of four New York Times bestsellers: The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, The Forgotten Man/Graphic, Coolidge, and The Greedy Hand: How Taxes Drive Americans Crazy.
Shlaes chairs the board of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation and the Manhattan Institute’s Hayek Book Prize, and serves as a scholar at the King’s College. Twitter: @amityshlaes
Product details
- Publisher : Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (February 4, 2014)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 592 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0061967599
- ISBN-13 : 978-0061967597
- Item Weight : 15.1 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.95 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #38,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #115 in US Presidents
- #184 in Political Leader Biographies
- #247 in U.S. State & Local History
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Amity Shlaes is proud to announce the publication of GREAT SOCIETY: A NEW HISTORY (HarperCollins). Many readers will remember THE FORGOTTEN MAN, a history of the 1930s. This book is the sequel, treating the Great Society programs of the 1960s, as well as the underdescribed efforts of the private sector-- far more important than we remember.
Miss Shlaes is the author of four New York Times bestsellers, COOLIDGE, THE FORGOTTEN MAN, THE FORGOTTEN MAN/GRAPHIC and THE GREEDY HAND.
Miss Shlaes chairs the board of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation. She chairs the Hayek Prize, a prize for free market books given by the Manhattan Institute.
She is a presidential scholar at the Kings College/New York.
Miss Shlaes has been the recipient of the Hayek Prize, the Frederic Bastiat Prize of the International Policy Network, the Warren Brookes Prize (2008) of the American Legislative Exchange Council, as well as being a two-time finalist for the Loeb Prize (Anderson School/UCLA).
She is a magna cum laude graduate of Yale College and did graduate work at the Freie Universitaet Berlin on a DAAD fellowship. She and her husband, the editor and author Seth Lipsky, have four children.
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When I first read of Ronald Reagan's placement of the Coolidge portrait in the White House, it was a bit puzzling. The reputation of this president was thoroughly trashed by the Roosevelt era historians like Arthur Schlessinger Jr, whose The Crisis of the Old Order sits in my bookcase behind me as I write this. That was my introduction to Coolidge. The descriptions of him continued in that vein until recently and continue. The 1920s were considered a period of wild speculation and immorality, largely due to Prohibition, but also a reflection of the Republican concerns with "normalcy," a term often ridiculed in my hearing in school. The Depression was considered a sort of retribution for all the fun that everyone had in the 20s.
The beginning of a new look at Harding and Coolidge is apparent. Ms Schlaes' last book was a large part of that but there are also academic publications that cast doubt on the Roosevelt success in dealing with the Depression. I was born in the Depression and my parents knew it well. My father was a rabid Democrat and the whole family was horrified when they learned that I cast my first vote for Richard Nixon in 1960.
The appreciation of Coolidge came a bit later as I read more history of the 1920s. It was a period of great invention and innovation. The radio and the telephone and the automobile played the role of the internet and cellphone of the Clinton era. Coolidge was an enthusiastic proponent of airplanes and introduced Charles Lindbergh to his future wife, Dwight Morrow's daughter, Ann.
Poor Sam Insull made electric appliances universal but lost track of the finances of his company, Commonwealth Edison, and ended up an enemy of the Democrats and persecuted by the Congress. The reputations of so many men suffered as the New Deal made enemies of the rich. Andrew Mellon, Coolidge's Treasury Secretary, was hated by Roosevelt and eventually a "trial" of Mellon and his record of taxes paid was conducted but he was exonerated shortly after his death. He did leave his incomparable art collection to the country and it became The National Gallery. Insull was eventually tried and also acquitted. He died in poverty.
Coolidge began the son of a poor but respectable merchant who served in the Vermont legislature and in a number of public offices. The book does an excellent job with his early life and his time at Amherst. He decided to "read law" instead of attending one of the new law schools like Harvard. His friend Dwight Morrow, tried clerking but moved on to the Columbia law school in New York.
He qualified for the bar a year early and had to find his own office as the two lawyers who had accepted him as a clerk did not want a partner. His early years, well described here, were rather harsh with economy always necessary. This would be a feature of his life. He did not own a home until after the presidency and he and his wife, Grace, raised their sons in half of a two family house. He slowly ascended the ladder of Massachusetts politics as a party man.
The episode that catapulted him to national prominence was the Boston Police Strike and he was quite reserved about his role. He supported the commissioner of police over the mayor who was Democrat and inclined to play politics. Coolidge always had excellent relations with organized labor and tried to find a solution but the police union forced his hand with the strike. When chaos ensued in Boston, he acted. It is an interesting speculation about Ronald Reagan's similar actions with the air traffic controllers' strike. Did he emulate his admired predecessor ?
One other thing about the book that is interesting is the obvious lack of a decent biography of Harding. Much of Coolidge's agenda was based on Harding's plans. Mellon was the mastermind of tax policy and showed the first understanding of what would be called "Supply Side" economics in the 1980s. Maybe we will see a proper book about Harding who was so successful in ending the severe recession after World War I.
This is an excellent biography and seems to focus on the personal more than the politics. There are other excellent biographies, like Coolidge and the Historians , which seems to have rocketed up in price since I found my copy. Perhaps the new interest in Coolidge has had an effect. Perhaps a reprint will become available. The endnotes of the Schlaes book also suggests some other biographies. Why Coolidge Matters: How Civility in Politics Can Bring a Nation Together is another valuable book and there is yet another biography coming out next month with the same title, Why Coolidge Matters: Leadership Lessons from America's Most Underrated President .
You will read negative reviews but they are mostly from political enemies who want the lessons from Coolidge unlearned. Buy this book and you won't regret it.
Calvin Coolidge was a success in every imaginable way. His program of cutting taxes, reducing spending, reducing the debt and charting a new course in foreign relations were all realized. On the economic front, his tax and spending policies were a resounding success, (bringing spending down in absolute terms year-over-year during some of his budget years). With marginal tax rates cut from over 70% to the mid 20% range, federal recepits increased (supply side at work), and the economy boomed.
Coolidge worked with Andrew Mellon and General Herbert Lord on his great domestic issues. These were remarkable men, particularly Mellon who probably deserves to be ranked with Hamilton and Chase as brilliant and effective Treasury Secreteries. Mellon's ideal of scientific taxation (what we today call supply side economics) found a fellow-traveler in the president. It worked better than either hoped; driving down mariginal rates provided incentives Mellon foretold spurring a general growth in the economy (with the exception of agriculture). The President met with General Lord every week before his cabinet meetings to pour over the budget and look for items to cut. This produced a budget at the end of Coolidge's Administration that was about where it was in actual dollars when compared to his first budget. He also succeeded in reducing actual spending during some of the years of his Administration.
On foreign affairs, Coolidge was successful in terms of instituting his agenda, although his naive belief that war could be outlawed via treaty (the Kellog-Briand Pact) was hopelessly utopian and ignored the lessons of history and the behavior of nation-states from the beginning of time. Still, in the immediate sense of the 1920's, Coolidge helped foster good international relations for the United States.
Stick with this book as it is a little slow in the first hundred pages. No fault to Shlaes, it is just the subject of her biograhy was such a figure of probity and rectitude growing up that he didn't have high adventures or even mischief that produces exciting reading. During Coolidge's youth, the author frequently mentions Theodore Roosevelt. The contrast between the two is telling. Roosevelt was such a ball of energy that a successful book just covering his childhood and adolescence (Mornings on Horseback) could be produced. No such engagning tome would be possible of Calivn Coolidge. Yet Shlaes does an admirable job of detailing his childhood, relationship with his father, schooling and early career to build a solid picture of the thinking and practices that formed this personality so well suited to executive action and presidential leadership.
This is a very well written and engaging book that will inform the reader as well as give an excellent example of a philosophy of govenrment that has worked well yet is foreign to almost everyone alive today in the United States.
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Reviewed in Spain on February 23, 2024
Calvin Coolidge is an odd duck and an enigma, and the author is very direct in pointing this out. From his time at Amherst College when he is described as an "Ouden" (a student unable to gain acceptance into a fraternity), this becomes apparent, though it does not prevent him from forging strong friendships with fellow students who will become leaders in their fields. In the meantime, the author gives a very good portrayal of Coolidge's New England upbringing of "all work and no play" that makes Cal a dull boy. Yet in spite of characteristics that are not conducive to social climbing, Coolidge somehow thrives in all aspects of life. He builds a successful career as a lawyer, followed by success in a series of political offices forming part of what Coolidge himself calls a "meteoric rise". He is also successful in wooing his wife, the ebullient Grace Goodhue, whose personality is in many ways a polar opposite to that of her husband.
As Governor of Massachusetts, Coolidge's star shines nationally with his handling of the Boston Police Strike of 1919, showcasing his firm conviction that "there is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, any time, anywhere." This in turn leads to his consideration for the GOP nomination for the presidency in 1920, his selection as Warren Harding's running-mate and subsequent election to the Vice-Presidency, and his becoming President upon the death of Harding in 1923.
As President, Coolidge maintains a steady resolve (some might call it a fixation) in favour of fiscal conservatism. Throughout his presidency, he is looking for ways to reduce government spending, lower taxes, increase the surplus and reduce the national debt which accumulated during world war one. This leads to a constant struggle with a congress that has other plans for how to spend the savings found by Coolidge and his budget director General Herbert Mayhew Lord. One of his most bitter opponents is his fellow Massachusetts Republican Henry Cabot Lodge. Sometimes Coolidge must use the veto, other times he is forced to hold his nose and approve legislation that runs contrary to his principles (such as an immigration law targeting Japanese immigrants.) Schlaes uses Coolidge's success in budgeting as support for Ronald Reagan's principle that decreasing taxes increases revenues. Whether or not this is so, the theory held true on Coolidge's watch.
There are a number of other issues that Coolidge is forced to confront in which his strong-willed principles make him appear to be uncaring. He is adamantly opposed to government spending for bonuses to veterans of the first world war or for farm subsidies. For Coolidge the higher priority is for the government to get its fiscal house in order. Even when the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 hits (the worst natural disaster to hit the Gulf Coast until Hurricane Katrina), Coolidge is firm in his position that this is a problem for the states, not the federal government.
Schlaes does a wonderful job of giving us insight into the type of person that Coolidge was, in spite of her subject's guarded nature. He was terse, truculent at times, jealous and controlling of his spouse. But he was also very principled and held himself to high standards. (For example, when he wrote a series of 10 articles for a magazine and only 6 were used, he took it upon himself to refund the money for the unused ones.) The author gives a good accounting of Coolidge's grieving process following the unexpected death of his 16 year old son Calvin Jr.
It is a mistake to conclude that the author is biased in her accounting of the life of Calvin Coolidge. Rather, it is her accurate description of Coolidge himself and in his dogged determination to maintain a steadfast loyalty to conservative principles that can lead to the false conclusion of an ideological bias on the part of the author. Schlaes portrays Coolidge, warts and all. From that accurate portrayal emerges a story of a man unwavering from his beliefs that place fiscal conservatism at the forefront.
This is an excellent accounting of a forgotten president, his life and times. It is a wonderful study of a president firmly confronting competing social and economic values and issues. Whether or not one agrees with Coolidge's approach to these issues, no criticism is deserved by the author, who does a superb job of informing the reader in an intelligent and insightful manner.