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The Spectacle Blog
“Well, farmers never have made money. I don’t believe we can do much about it.”
President Calvin Coolidge uttered this to Robert A. Cooper, chairman of the Farm Loan Board, after vetoing a bill that would have boosted agriculture prices by federal purchase of crops.
Can you imagine the media reaction to such a statement today? “Utter callousness.” “Letting farmers starve to death over their very fields.” “No sympathy for poor or middle-class voters.”
Coolidge, as Amity Shlaes’s new book explains, managed to absolutely reduce the federal budget by the time he left the White House, along with reducing top marginal income tax rates from 58% to 25%.
Yet Coolidge, as our history books have taught us, is known as a “do-nothing president.”
Coolidge had a very underwhelming presence physical. Shlaes describes the man as short, slight, quiet, and humble. Yet he managed to win reelection in 1924, after becoming president in 1923 as a result of Warren G. Harding’s death.
Coolidge’s personality originated in his deep religious faith, which required him to be unambitious and frugal.
Shlaes further posits that today’s politicians today “are weak” while “journalists are sheep.” These two factors have led to congressional gridlock; she concluded that we needed a new Coolidge for today.
Can the United States really elect a man of Coolidge’s caliber in the 21st century? With television and Twitter, I can’t even imagine a candidate that chooses to remain prudently reserved before pursuing a right and just public policy.
Even Ronald Reagan was formerly an actor; he was the “Great Communicator.”
Coolidge, on the other hand, lived his traditional New England virtues, governed with them, and left the White House perceiving it simply as a building that men entered and left.
Limited government conservatives may idealize these qualities, but they need to be reincarnated in a louder man. If they are not, I fear they will be drowned out by the noise of mass media.
Though reserved, Coolidge did use his words wisely. Indeed, we could use the following today:
“I am for economy, and after that I am for more economy.”
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More Blog Posts by Patrick Ryan
http://spectator.org/blog/2013/02/21/could-calvin-coolidge-win-a-21
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Derek Leaberry| 2.21.13 @ 9:14AM
No. The American people have become too degraded and Third World since the 1920s.
Albert Constantine Jr.| 2.21.13 @ 9:40AM
Silent Cal won as VP with Harding in 1920, and on his own in 1924. The Talkies came out in 1927, and spread along with the ubiquity of the broadcast media in the years which followed.
President Coolidge may have won the last election where the printed word was more important than the broadcast spoken word.
C. Vernon Crisler | 2.21.13 @ 10:46AM
Coolidge was right about farmers. Historians talk a lot about the plight of farmers in the late 19th century and forward, that they couldn't get a decent price for their products. Hence the need for gov't price supports.
At the same time, these historians praise to the hilt the mass immigration that was happening during the 19th century, post Civil War. Most of these were poor immigrant farmers.
It doesn't take a PhD in economics to see what happened -- an oversupply of farmers (along with technological improvements). You have too much supply over demand and something's got to give -- and for farmers that was prices.
Egil| 2.21.13 @ 11:49AM
The decline in appreciation for the virtues of a man like Coolidge should be horrifying to any reasonable person. Today, not only might Coolidge struggle as a candidate because of his modesty and other personal characteristics, but also because he stood for self-reliance and thrift.
My Dad's parents were self-reliant farmers in central Pennsylvania up til the 1980's. They refused to take advantage of Medicare and other government programs, including when they were in poor health during their last years. Today, how many farmers, including the big-business operations, can say that they don't take money from the government? And my grandparents not only took care of themselves, but they donated an awful lot of time and money to charities, and to their church. In the 1930's they took in foster children while they and their own children were still working hard to make ends meet. They paid back all of their loans for the farm, which they bought right before the Great Depression hit. In the 50's and 60's they invited foreign students to live with them for the summer--so much for supposedly bigoted clingers who are slandered by the real bigots such as Obama!
Sorry for the rant, but I hope that men like Coolidge are appreciated again soon by a lot more people, beyond those who tend to go to websites like this. If that doesn't happen, then the USA deserves to go to Hell.
grant1863| 2.21.13 @ 2:08PM
Governor Mitch Daniels comes to mind as someone similar to Coolidge and I don't think he would stand a chance being elected nowadays. The America of 100 years ago is no more, never to return.
J.C.Eaton| 2.21.13 @ 3:07PM
Could Calvin Coolidge be elected president in 21st century America? In short, no. A variety of seemingly disparate factors would lead ineluctably to that conclusion. E.G. Karl Rove, Hollywood dopes, Democrat dopes, citizen-dopes, the 51+% of dopes that walk around with their hand outstretched....and those to whom virtue of any stripe is considered unhip. Cal would be ushered off the political stage in 15 minutes.
RJ| 2.21.13 @ 3:27PM
John Calvin Coolidge would be a great President for our current budgetary and economic problems, but he, like all leaders, could only offer a path for the people to take. The solution lies in our society, which unfortunately has evolved into more and more dependence. For our government to change, the people must change.
Egil| 2.21.13 @ 4:06PM
Good point, RJ. I'm furious with the "conservatives" who spent the last few decades laughing about Political Correctness and the maniacs teaching in our public schools and colleges. Too many Americans didn't take that stuff seriously for a long time. Now we see the results.
Paleo-Con| 2.21.13 @ 6:52PM
IDK, Mr. Coolidge and his ability to communicate in brevity may work well with Twitter's word limit.
Can anyone say, "sound bite"?
It may be possible for solid character to triumph over shallow personality even today.
But the Coolidge of today would need to be telegenic.
Butch| 2.21.13 @ 8:05PM
No, he couldn't. Could you see Silent Cal on "The View?" Others who couldn't be elected today: Washington, Adams, Madison (too short), Lincoln (too ugly, high-pitched voice), Taft (too fat), Eisenhower (no charisma), and LBJ (too crude). FDR wouldn't have a prayer in that wheelchair with the cigarette. Nixon.
Those who would sail: Jefferson (Negro mistress, how cool is that), Kennedy (Marilyn, for gosh sakes), Clinton (Jennifer and Paula, what a guy), Obama (not only half black, but vaguely light in the loafers).
Ralph Gizzip| 2.22.13 @ 7:07AM
No way "Silent Cal" could be elected today but I've always wondered how different things would be in America had Barry Goldwater been elected in '64.