Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Luc Madonna
Mr. Widenhofer
AP US History
May 9, 2017
The president of the United States has many responsibilities. He represents the country
with not only his policies, but the morality and dignity of the office. We have repeatedly seen this
tarnished by many men who have taken the oath of office. In 1923, we saw the gold standard of
morality in office exemplified by Calvin Coolidge. Sworn in after the death of Warren G.
Harding, Silent Cals mission was not only to lead America by his conservative and pro-
business policies, but to display to other countries that America could still be viewed as the city
on the hill during an era of flappers and others leading modern, materialistic culture. In fact,
Calvin Coolidge is admired for effectively doing nothing to stimulate the economy. Although
short-term this assisted the period of a great middle class and good-paying manufacturing jobs,
his laissez-faire approach to central government economics proved to be a key element in the
economic downfall shortly after his presidency. Balancing first, the stimulus of the economy
during the Roaring Twenties, and second, his responsibility of the Great Depression, Calvin
Coolidge has to be rated as a below average president. Although he was admired by the public
and favored because of the economy while in office, he takes a large responsibly for the worst
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was born in Plymouth Notch, Vermont on July 4, 1872. It was
in this small town where he lived with his father, who was a farmer and storekeeper, along with
his sister and mother (The White House). His father was also elected to the Vermont Senate and
House of Representatives at one point in his life. It was from his father where he learned how to
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live an upright and moral life. His father was an honest man who was took work very seriously
in the fields and in government. However, Coolidge was plagued by two major tragedies before
his eighteenth birthday. First, his mother died when he was twelve, and he was eighteen when his
sister died. He would go on to suffer chronic depression throughout his life because of these two
events, along with the death of his son later in his life. However, also at the age of eighteen,
Coolidge graduated from the Black River Academy and went to Amherst College shortly after to
study law and its practices (The White House). Shortly after graduation, Coolidge moved to
Massachusetts and apprenticed with a firm, Hammond and Field. These two men informally
introduced Coolidge to politics. They were very active in local politics and believed in
Republican ideals and practices. This sparked the idea of running for a position locally, which
Coolidge got the opportunity when he decided to move to Northampton in 1898 to start his own
law practice (TheFamousPeople- Society for Recognition of Famous People). As a lawyer here,
he gained respect from the locals for being an honest and hardworking attorney and a man of the
community. The next year, he decided to run for his first ever political position. He was elected
as the City Solicitor, a position he held successfully for two years. After this short political stint,
he went back into private law practice. However, Coolidge did not remain in law practice much
longer. In 1909, he was elected mayor of Northampton, which was followed by his election in
the US Senate from 1911 to 1915 (TheFamousPeople- Society for Recognition of Famous
elected Governor of Massachusetts. This was the first time Coolidge shined in the national
spotlight. In 1919, there was a police strike in Boston where tens of thousands of people filled
the streets, along with many that decided to loot a variety of stores (Weineke). As governor,
Coolidge famously said, There is no right to strike against public safety by anybody, anywhere,
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any time. He backed this by replacing the entire police force within about six weeks. (Weineke).
The public admired Coolidges humble and simplistic approach to leadership, which led him to
be on the ballot as the running mate to soon-to-be president and Republican nominee, Warren G.
Harding in 1920 (Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation). The election of 1920 was truly a
landslide, with Harding and Coolidge winning sixty percent of the popular vote
was the first to attend cabinet meetings, give meaningful speeches, and perform other high
ranking duties. Throughout his vice-presidency, he landed the nickname Silent Cal because of
Although he was a quiet person, there was huge, abrupt news on August 2, 1923. While
traveling to California, President Warren G. Harding died from a heart attack. Coolidge, at the
time, was visiting family in Vermont when he heard the news. In fact, Coolidge took the
presidential oath of office administered by his father at 2:47 am at the family home. Coolidge,
like normal, did not speak many words that night and morning. Just about the only thing he said
was, Better have that fixed, referring to a stone step that was out of place (McCoy 150).
Nevertheless, the next day, Coolidge went to Washington to take another oath in front of the
Supreme Court.
Coolidges first desire in office was to restore morality and character to the oval office.
Hardings administration was full of corruption, including the Teapot Dome Scandal,
extramarital affairs with other women, and corruption in the cabinet (History). Coolidge, instead,
quietly brought back a moral standard to the White House. However, he continued some of
Hardings policies. One of the first things he signed in his first half-term was the Immigration
Act of 1924. This lessened the number of immigrants that were permitted to come over from
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certain areas, including Italy, Eastern European and mainly Jewish countries, as well as Asia.
This was not countered by Congress and was passed relatively easily. During this first stint as
president, he also fought for more rights for minorities, including African Americans and Native
Americans. He spoke out against appointing KKK members to government positions and called
for an end to lynching. He assisted Native Americans when he signed the Indian Citizenship Act
in 1924, which granted them full citizenship and allowed them to retain tribal land rights.
However, some Native Americans were still not allowed to vote because of unique voting laws in
different states.
In 1924, Coolidge decided to run again for reelection. Most Americans were pleased with
his morality and hands-off approach to business. In fact, thanks in part to new inventions like the
automobile and electricity, the economy was booming, making Coolidge was a very popular
president. This era in United States history is tabbed The Roaring Twenties because of the
growth of the economy at an unprecedented rate (History). This also was an era of new culture,
including dress, music, and entertainment. Women started dressing in the flapper style, and
also began to drink, smoke, and wear their hair in a bob. Average Americans were slowly able to
purchase automobiles and live more extravagantly than ever before. Even canned foods started to
become in demand. These new ideas, which created domestic manufacturing opportunities,
turned the United States into the leading world economic power. Coolidge was almost a father
figure throughout this period in history (History). He favored tax cuts and limited government
spending, which helped every type of business, but especially small and family-owned
businesses. He also incorporated a hefty tariff on imported goods to preserve manufacturing jobs.
The chief business of the American people is business, Coolidge once said. This, while true,
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created a gap between the rich and the poor which we had never seen to this extent before (UVA
Miller Center).
Calvin Coolidge received praise domestically for the Roaring Twenties but also received
criticism internationally for the Dawes Plan and Kellogg-Briand Pact (UVA Miller Center). The
Dawes plan ineffectively did nothing but pass money between the United States, Germany, and
Allies. It was initially aimed to help the Germans get out of the economic hole of WWI and to
ease the tensions between Germany and the rest of Western Europe. Likewise, the Kellogg-
Briand Pact failed because its initial purpose was to once again ease the tensions between
Germany and other countries by demilitarizing these countries and outlawing war altogether.
(UVA Miller Center). Although it sounds democratic, officially banning war is almost impossible
Not long before the Kellogg-Briand Pact in 1928, Calvin Coolidge let the American
public know that he was not going to run for a second and final term. While vacationing in the
Black Hills of South Dakota in 1927, he famously said, I do not choose to run for President in
This was a wise decision by Coolidge, because shortly after his successor, Herbert
Hoover was sworn in, the country went into the biggest recession of all time. The Great
Depression left millions jobless and hungry on the street. Hoover historically seems to be blamed
for the outcome of the Great Depression, however, Coolidge was ultimately responsible. He
allowed the banking system to fail by letting them invest in the booming stock market
(Tennessee 4 Me - Was President Herbert Hoover Responsible for the Depression?). Although
this sounds reasonable because of the economic skyrocket, that is never a smart option because it
causes over speculation. Even regular people invested immense amount of money in the stock
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market, and when it crashed, they were left with nothing. Another problem was the issue between
government executives. People like Andrew Mellon believed that recessions were part of
business and that it is not necessarily a bad thing. He is not completely wrong, but a recession as
large as the Great Depression had to be addressed (Tennessee 4 Me - Was President Herbert
Hoover Responsible for the Depression?). Hoover eventually relieved Mellon as Treasurer, but
The Great Depression singlehandedly turned Coolidges presidency from very good to
below average. Although he served one of the most-liked presidents while in office, his impact
after leaving the oval office is what he often gets remembered for. His laissez-faire policies failed
in the long-run, but his morality while in the White House is something that presidents for
Works Cited
Calvin Coolidge Biography. TheFamousPeople- Society for Recognition of Famous People.
Web. 18 May 2017.
Calvin Coolidge. History. A&E Television Networks. Web. 18 May 2017.
Calvin Coolidge: Impact and Legacy. UVA Miller Center. Web. 17 May 2017.
Calvin Coolidge. The White House. Web. 17 May 2017.
McCoy, Donald R. Calvin Coolidge: The Quiet President. The Macmillan Company, New York
1967, Collier-Macmillan Canada Ltd., Toronto, 1967. Print.
President Calvin Coolidge- Life and Legacy. Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation. Web.
17 May 2017.
"Was President Herbert Hoover Responsible for the Depression?" Tennessee 4 Me - Was
President Herbert Hoover Responsible for the Depression? Web. 17 May 2017.
Weineke, David. Boston Police Strikes of 1919. iBoston- Boston History and Architecture.
Web. 18 May 2017.