Coolidge

Amity Shlaes

• Publisher: Harper
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780061967597
• eBook ISBN: 9780062097972
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

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.

Index

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Academic performance, Coolidge’s, 31–32, 35–37, 58–59. See also Amherst College, Coolidge’s education at

Acosta, Bert, 361

Adams, John, 7, 96, 223, 247

Adams, John T., 274

Adams, Samuel, 95

Adams House, 96–97, 111

Addams, Jane, 414

Ade, George, 92

Advertising, 37, 55, 73, 91, 103, 134, 158, 174, 203. See also Barton, Bruce

Aerial photography, 341, 358

Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce, 349

African Americans

Coolidge on, at Amherst College, 38

Coolidge on Ku Klux Klan and, 336

Coolidge’s reelection campaign and, 313–14

flood relief, Herbert Hoover, and, 359

Airplanes. See Aviation

Akerson, George, 420

Alaska trip, Harding’s, 249–51

Alcohol issues, 64

Aldrich, Eugene, 29

Algonquin Club dinner, 134–35

Allen, Ethan, 15, 19, 21

Allis, Frederick, 286, 312, 313

Allport, Floyd, 166

Aluminum Company of America, 120, 133, 315–16

Aluminum industry, 52, 84

American Association of Newspaper Editors, 323

American Federation of Labor (AFL), 104, 147, 151, 153, 156, 160, 180, 272. See also Labor issues

American Indians. See Native Americans

American Legion, 233–34, 336, 421

American Steel and Wire Company, 47

American Woolen Company, 114, 401

Amherst College

battalion from, in World War I, 143

Calvin Coolidge at (see Amherst College, Coolidge’s education at)

John Coolidge (son) at, 286, 295, 312–13

at Coolidge’s inauguration as lieutenant governor, 139–40

dinner hosted by alumni of, 139–40

graft case at, 67

history and alumni of, 32–34

issues about, during Coolidge’s presidency, 304–5

issues about, during Coolidge’s vice-presidency, 240–41, 247–49

Alexander Meiklejohn as president of (see Meiklejohn, Alexander)

motto of, 33, 104, 433

preparations for war at, 133–34, 140

professors at, 10, 35, 40-41, 49-54

reunion at, 109

search of, for president, 112

sewage system regulation issue of, 120–21

support of Coolidge by alumni of, 120

taxes on, 104

Amherst College, Coolidge’s education at, 31–59

academic performance, 35–37, 58–59

decision to attend, 30

failed entrance exam and prep school preparation for, 31–32

fraternity issues, 32, 34–35, 37, 42, 56

friendships, 41–42

interest in politics and economics, 38–47

interest in public speaking, 37–39, 43–44, 48, 54–58

interest in pursuing legal career after, 57–59

mentors, 10, 49–54

personal finances, 38, 44, 47–48

personal life, 41–42, 48–49, 57

Anarchists, 40, 76, 115, 116, 154, 203, 207

Andrews, Charles, 34–35, 454–55

Andrews, E. B., 49

Antitrust cases, 101, 315–16

Antitrust legislation, 98–103, 127

Anthropometry, 35

Appointments. See Cabinet

Army-Navy Reception, 413

Army surplus issue, 226

Articles, Coolidge’s. See Writing, Coolidge’s

Ashurst, Henry Fountain, 213, 268–69

Athletics, Coolidge and, 35

Attorney. See Law practice, Coolidge’s

Audacious War, The (book), 192

Aunt Mede. See Coolidge, Sarah Almeda Brewer (grandmother)

Autobiography, Coolidge’s, 5, 441, 446–47, 450, 462

Automobiles, 85, 97, 111–12, 119, 137, 212–13, 417

Aviation

Coolidge administration and, 312, 335, 342, 349–51

dirigibles, 341–42

Charles Lindbergh and, 346, 362–63, 365–69

Orteig Prize and, 194, 344–45, 356, 361–63

Wright brothers and, 74, 85

Babler, Jacob, 196

Bache, Jules S., 193

Baer, George, 77

Bailiff, Coolidge’s father as, 27

Bailout, bank, 102

Baker, Bryant, 339

Baker, Newton, 144, 165

Bancroft, George, 62, 100, 121, 194

Banks

bailout of, 102

Coolidge as bank vice-president, 72, 105–6

Coolidge’s use of, 425

Federal Reserve System and, 120 (see also Federal Reserve System)

Bar exam, Coolidge’s, 69

Barnes, Raymond, 163

Bar...

Table of contents

• Dedication
• Contents
• Introduction: The Curse
• One: Snowbound
• Two: The Ouden
• Three: Determination
• Four: The Roosevelt Way
• Five: War
• Six: The Strike
• Seven: The Reign of Law
• Eight: Normalcy
• Nine: “A Most Insignificant Office”
• Ten: The Budget
• Eleven: The Siege and the Spruce
• Twelve: The Flood and the Flier
• Thirteen: Decision at Rushmore
• Fourteen: Coolidge Agonistes
• Fifteen: The Shield and the Book
• Coda: The Blessing
• Acknowledgments
• A Note on Sources
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• Photographic Insert
• About the Author
• Also by Amity Shlaes
• Credits
• Copyright
• About the Publisher