-
My Rahm Reunion
May 16, 2013 | 16 comments
-
The Left Hates Us
May 9, 2013 | 143 comments
-
Such a Dynamic Duo
May 2, 2013 | 49 comments
-
The Continuing Crisis
May 1, 2013 | 0 comments
-
Calvin Coolidge: His Times Are Our Times
April 26, 2013 | 22 comments
The Current Crisis
End of the Coolidge Joke
As Amity Shlaes reminds us, Calvin Coolidge was a great president.
WASHINGTON — I am indebted to Amity Shlaes for gently correcting a joke of mine that dates back to July 8, 1972. On that date in the New York Times I joshed that President Calvin Coolidge “probably spent more time napping than any President in the nation’s history” and therefore was a successful president. My joke was a play on an earlier joke by H. L. Mencken, and now Shlaes has corrected both of us. She has written a very impressive biography titled simply Coolidge wherein she never mentions Cal’s naps but rather what made him one of the most successful presidents. He reversed the economic insolvency of President Woodrow Wilson, and set the economy on the road to growth, a road made rocky by Cal’s successor, President Herbert Hoover, and rockier still by Hoover’s successor, Franklin Roosevelt.
Though one would not know it today, Coolidge presided over a very successful economy in the 1920s. Vice President Coolidge came to the presidency on the death of President Warren G. Harding in August 1923 and won the presidency outright in 1924 with 54 percent of the vote over the Democrat, John W. Davis, who had 28.8 percent of the vote, and the Progressive, Robert M. La Follette, who won just 16.6 percent of the vote. Moreover, Coolidge had won every race he ever contested from his first run for city councilman in 1898 to the governorship of Massachusetts in 1918, usually by astoundingly large margins. His combination of civility, effectiveness, standing by the law, and, as president, tax cuts, budget balancing, and growth was wildly popular with American voters, as was his singular asset, taciturnity.
He even outdid President Ronald Reagan on the economy. Reagan inherited President Jimmy Carter’s anemic economy. He cut taxes and with Paul Volcker as his guide cut inflation. He put the economy on a growth curve for years thereafter. Yet, as Shlaes points out, he failed to reduce the deficit — though he did reduce it as a percentage of GDP — and he failed to cut the federal budget.
Coolidge did. In fact, he cut the top income tax rate to 25 percent, three percentage points lower than Reagan’s historic 1986 tax cuts, and the economy grew. Coolidge reduced the national debt from $28 billion to $17.65 billion with a combination of economies and tax cuts. He actually balanced the budget. When, in 1929, he returned to his Massachusetts home he left the federal budget smaller than it was when he had arrived in 1921. Of equal importance, the economy was now solidly growing.
The unemployment rate that was at 5.7 million in July 1921 had dropped to 1.8 million. Manufacturing had climbed by a third since 1921 and iron and steel production had doubled. Finally, the revenue acts of 1921, 1924, and 1928 represented strong growth despite tax reduction. Something was working.
Coolidge’s secretary of the treasury, Andrew Mellon, called it “scientific taxation.” Today we would call his tax plan supply-side economics. By cutting marginal tax rates Coolidge and Mellon goaded economic activity and raised tax revenue. Yet through all the years of his presidency Coolidge along with his secretary of the treasury Mellon had to fight off big spenders, not only the Democrats but also those Republicans infected with a kind of influenza for Big Government called progressivism. There were great projects such as the hydroelectric project called Muscle Shoals and there were noble gestures such as the veterans’ pensions that kept the pressure on the Administration to spend and tax and burst the budget.
Cal resisted most of these impulses with his pocket veto and fifty vetoes, but it wore him down. In 1927 he cryptically signed a message to the world, “I do not choose to run for President in Nineteen Twenty-Eight.” Hoover ran and returned the progressive impulse to Washington.
So, Ms. Shlaes, I was wrong. Coolidge was a great man but not because of his napping. He accomplished what he accomplished by cutting taxes and cutting budgets. It took a lot of energy and it took fortitude.
About the Author
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is the founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. He is the author of The Death of Liberalism, published by Thomas Nelson Inc. His previous books include the New York Times bestseller Boy Clinton: the Political Biography; The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton; The Liberal Crack-Up; The Conservative Crack-Up; Public Nuisances; The Future that Doesn’t Work: Social Democracy’s Failure in Britain; Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House; The Clinton Crack-Up; and After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery.
Portsmouth Compact| 2.21.13 @ 6:31AM
Check out her talk to Heritage yesterday (Wed) - should be up on video today. Amusing and insightful.
C. Vernon Crisler | 2.21.13 @ 7:46AM
A good president, though often blamed by Progressive historians for the prosperity that "led to the Depression." IMO, Hoover was a TR Progressive, and the Depression was the economy's revenge on Progressive economic policies.
Occam's Tool| 2.21.13 @ 9:10PM
And, although he started Rushmore, wasn't put on it. In addition, he had a great sense of humor, and translated the Classics for entertainment.
CJW| 2.21.13 @ 8:16AM
Coolidge was Reagan's favorite president. Ironically, Hoover followed Coolidge and went for the progressive big gov solution to all problems. Many of FDR's programs were an extension and bigger version of Hoover's ideas. Similarly, Bush 41 followed Reagan, talked about a kinder and gentler nation, raised taxes, and was a one term president like Hoover.
Both Hoover and Bush moved away from the conservative principles of Coolidge and Reagan.
Reagan fired the air controllers for an illegal strike against the public, and Coolidge did the same with the Boston police who struck, saying there is no right to strike against public safety.
Von Mises Jr| 2.21.13 @ 8:32AM
Wilson's policies had not dug deep roots in the economy yet in just a decade, but Wilson left a severe recession behind for Harding and Coolidge to correct. Hoover was an impressive man with civil and mining Engineering background who was successful in several overseas mining operations. But he was a central planner and insisted on tinkering with every aspect of the economy and banking that caused the crash.
The lesson is that like Bush 41 and 43; Hoover did not believe in free markets and did not allow Hayek's "spontaneous order" to function.
The problem we face today is that the GOP Establishment is the equivalent of Hoover and the Wilson progressive policies have been in place a century instead of a decade.
God save the United States of America from central planners in both Parties.
C. Vernon Crisler | 2.21.13 @ 10:15AM
Dittos....
CJW| 2.21.13 @ 1:40PM
Von
Agree. Hoover ran the very successful program in Europe to feed the victims of the war. He must have believed that he could control the economy as he controlled the Europe Relief program.
Hoover had a change of mind later in life when he founded the Hoover Institute at Stanford.
Seeems like all these pols think they are smart and can control the economy.
BTW, I took you advice to take the online courses from Hillsdael. Listened to a few lectures on history of Western Civilization, Christianity, and others. Very good. Better than tv.
Von Mises Jr| 2.21.13 @ 2:34PM
I watched both Constitution 101 and 102 over the last couple years and recently watched Western Heritage. All were great but the latter much more interesting since there was much new learning for me. Starting shortly is American Heritage. I am already signed up.
Dr. Thomas Sowell is a Sr. Fellow at Hoover, as I believe is Victor Davis Hansen. His articles at PJ Media and JewishWorldReview.com are another favorite. The latest on PJ Media is about the cognitive dissonance of America over the last few decades.
RJ| 2.21.13 @ 3:13PM
Good points. While many Americans view Hoover as a "conservative," he really was a Progressive. Also, his appointments to the Supreme Court paved the way for the Progressive movement's success in the Judicial branch, from which federalism has not recovered.
Michele San Pietro| 2.21.13 @ 11:42AM
To my mind, Reagan really did the right thing by firing those idlers of air controllers.
Jack in Wi| 2.21.13 @ 8:23AM
Coolidge was good but I believe Warren Harding was the best President in the 1920's. He slashed spending and taxes 60'% and ended the brutal depressionof 1921 in a year. He released all of Wilson's political prisoners from their dungeons. He also called the Washintgton Naval Conference which scrapped a lot of the world's navies at a huge savings for the world's taxpayers.He got all that done in two and a half years. My governor Scott Walker is a lot like Coolidge. So far he has never lost an election and has been a fiscal hawk and tax cutter in every job he was elected to. He just has the same kind of common sense attitude that Coolidge had.
Arnie| 2.21.13 @ 8:41AM
Oh yes, that corrupt, free market, insider trading based economy of the 1920s that resulted in Black Thursday and the Great Depression. And with huge disparities in wealth. Yea. Fantastic economy indeed!!
I'll take the economy of the 1950s of Ike over Coolidge anyday.
Von Mises Jr| 2.21.13 @ 9:05AM
Troll alert: Please don't feed the trolls.
OP4| 2.21.13 @ 9:32AM
What you will get it is the economy of Hoover, FDR, and the Great Depression. Endless recessions, permanently high unemployment rates, hopelessness and corruption.
WhiteBikerTrash| 2.21.13 @ 1:26PM
Arnie,
Your understanding of the economic forces of the 1920s and 30s shows serious lacking. But as a description of Obama's economic actions you are spot on! I would take the economy of Coolidge over Obama any day. Welcome to 1937!!
jothepro| 2.21.13 @ 1:35PM
Arnie, what the hell happened to black Tuesday?
CJW| 2.21.13 @ 1:41PM
purp alert.
Von Mises Jr| 2.21.13 @ 5:56PM
Rhymes with poop attack.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.21.13 @ 9:06AM
When Mr. Tyrell referenced The Coolidge Joke in his headline for this article, I thought he was referring to the one where the woman went to “Silent Cal” at a party, and as a result of his tight-lipped reputation, informs him that she made a bet that she could get him to say more than three words. President Coolidge responds “You Lose”.
In the spirit of that joke and the 21st century, I offer an updated Obama version:
A woman approaches Obama at a celebrity-sponsored fundraiser in Las Vegas, and tells him, based on his reputation “I want to make a bet with you that we could have a conversation in which you would neither be condescending or self-referential”. Obama responds ”I win. You lose.”
Moe Blotz| 2.21.13 @ 3:39PM
Somewhere in the snow banks near Aspen, Secret Service agents discovered "F++K Obama" written in yellow snow. Chemical analysis determined the yellow snow was created by Sean Hannity's urine, but handwriting experts determined it was Michelle Obama's writing.
Fred the Cockatoo| 2.21.13 @ 4:32PM
If someone was dropping "F-bombs" around the Fox network, I'd always look first at Bob Beckel, though we know it couldn't be him, because when has a controversy involving sex EVER erupted around Bob Beckel.
OP4| 2.21.13 @ 9:34AM
Coolidge truly was the greatest President of the 20th Century. He recognized the value of freedom and the dangers of big government.
C. Vernon Crisler | 2.21.13 @ 10:18AM
Can't agree on that. Reagan is #1 in my book. While Coolidge was great, he did not have to fight and win a Cold War.
Shery| 2.21.13 @ 10:06AM
We need another Calvin Coolidge today! He was my history teacher's favorite president. This was pre-Reagan, but I think he would've still remained so after Reagan.
Who Knows?| 2.21.13 @ 10:54AM
Bitter too late, than never?
What is a joke, and what is a nap, and do mea culpas make any difference? Are you the same man in 2013 you were in 1972?
My pa used to drunkenly “serenade” us kids with two seared-in-my-memory statements---
“Better days are coming.” And “It’s not what you used to be, but what you are today.”
He was a true Guru!
Of course, the JOKE was piquantly gotten by even we youngsters, because there was no doubt that bitter, not better, days were “coming” for the besot body of the old whiskey guzzler, my aging dad. Not to mention the decades of smoking.
And, “what you are, today”?
The whole “nap” concept deserves unpacking, and applied omnivorously, and must digest the whole American “meal”, over all the recent years—and, the lawful “upset stomach” and “cancer” and worse is sure to come. Sleeping through an Obama disease, like a lifetime of quaffing barrels of hard liquor and sucking atmospheres of cigarette waste, necessarily yields bitter days of pain, and death.
On the dying bed, America says---I’m sorry.
No big deal.
Michele San Pietro| 2.21.13 @ 11:39AM
I agree that Coolidge was a great President, and it's wrong to exclusively blame Republicans for the economic crisis of 1929, but I haven't a particularly bad judgment of FDR, either, at least his first four years at the White House were positive in my opinion.
aware| 2.21.13 @ 5:33PM
The crash was caused by the Federal Reserve, which is always the driver of the so called "business cycle". A combination of sheer stupidity passing for "monetary policy" and expanding credit to a point where even maids were borrowing for stock speculation is only possible with a Federal Reserve.
Then, continued manipulation of money and credit was compounded by FDR and Leviathan interfering with a necessary correction. The recession is the cure, yet "government" insists on "fighting" it. When you fight the cure the disease lingers and can prove fatal.
It almost was then, it will be shortly now.
Paleo-Con| 2.21.13 @ 6:03PM
The Fed. What a mess. Creates problems and then pretends to correct them. Surely, the lawful and constitutional U.S. Treasury can devise an open and honest replacement for The Fed.
Thomas Paulick| 2.21.13 @ 12:36PM
This essay from Mr. Tyrrell was a huge disappointment. If anyone suspects that modern conservatives have a death wish, the current "conservative" fascination with Coolidge should remove all doubts.
Archie| 2.21.13 @ 3:01PM
What’s your beef? Pointing out politics and tactics that worked in the not too distant past are now…..what exactly? Old school? No longer applicable? I can only guess that you are just another in a long line who believes that history began on your birth date, and everything before that is irrelevant
RJ| 2.21.13 @ 3:21PM
I look forward to reading the book. However, as Emmett indicates in his article, some of the reforms took place under Harding, before Coolidge became president. I would like to know more about the transition from the Wilson government to the Harding/Coolidge government. I have taken a look at the American Presidency Series, but the book on the Harding Administration was written by John Dean (yes, that John Dean) and Arthur Schlesinger, not exactly my view of objective historians.
Does anyone have any suggestions about any good books to read on the subject?
Jack in Wi| 2.21.13 @ 4:33PM
RJ. Get the Shadow of Blooming Grove by Francis Russell. It is a good biography of Harding. The Shadow was that Harding may have been the first African American President. Dr. Thomas Woods has written a few essays about Harding which are quite good. They may still be on the internet.
RJ| 2.21.13 @ 5:12PM
Thanks for the recommendation, Jack. I will look into it.
Egil| 2.21.13 @ 4:59PM
If more Americans don't start appreciating the virtues of Calvin Coolidge soon, then America deserves to go straight to Hell.
As did many Americans before World War II, my grandparents lived lives of self-reliance, self-restraint and charity. Those millions of earlier Americans must be spinning in their graves.
Paleo-Con| 2.21.13 @ 5:55PM
Yes - doing the right thing is often hard work.
What Harding and Coolidge did to correct the massive recession of 1920-1921 was to cut government. Worked like a charm. It worked in a modern economy that had industry, research, travel, imports and exports, financial markets, etc. So that approach could work now. Probably even better since our economic information is more thorough.
cuban pete| 2.21.13 @ 7:02PM
My understanding is Coolidge was the last president to write his own speeches. His July 4, 1926 speech on the Declaration of Independence is great.
axbucxdu| 2.21.13 @ 10:06PM
Silent Cal: The last conservative president.
homme nike air max BW | 2.22.13 @ 2:42AM
by astoundingly large margins. His combination of civility, effectiveness, standing by the law, and, as president, tax cuts, budget balancing, and growth was wildly popular with American voters, as was his singular asset, taciturnity.
Real Deal| 2.22.13 @ 2:44PM
How can you not admire the man that said this?
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsucessful people with talent. Genuis will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistance and determination alone are omnipotent."
~ Calvin Coolidge