Calvin Coolidge: Our Thirtieth President (Spirit of America: Our Presidents)

Rating:
Summary: The story of the "luckiest" President, "Silent Cal" Coolidge
Review: Melissa Maupin begins her juvenile biography of Calvin Coolidge with a chapter entitled "Silent Cal," and then proceeds to show that the famous nickname of our 30th President does not exactly fit the facts. I was surprised to learn that despite his tendency to say as little as possible, Coolidge gave more speech and held more press conferences than any of his predecessors. So much for being "Silent Cal." Across the bridge in Superior, Wisconsin there is a historical market telling how an old school building once served as the summer White House for Coolidge, so there is some regional interest around here in this particular President (I think Kennedy and Clinton are the only other ones to show up on this side of the bridge).

Maupin tells how Coolidge rose in Massachusetts politics and ended up as the Vice Presidential candidate on the 1920 Republican ticket with Warren G. Harding. I find it interesting that the last chapter, which usually focuses on the policies and achievements of the President in his last term of office, focuses more on The Roaring Twenties. Then again, this is a sense in which the decade dominated by Babe Ruth, Charles Lindbergh and other giants, did dwarf whoever happened to be in the White House (As the Babe pointed out, he deserved more money than the President because he had a better year). After all, Coolidge's re-election slogan, "Keep Cool With Coolidge," really did not promise anything more than more of the same. When it comes to Coolidge's big accomplishments in office it seems he welcomed back Lindbergh and dedicated Mt. Rushmore.

As is the case with all volumes in the "Our Presidents" series, additional information is provided both in the form of large sidebars on The Other Side of Silent Cal, Sleepy Leadership (Coolidge slept 11 hours a day), the Country and the Ku Klux Klan, and the Bust after the Boom, as well as Interesting Facts like Coolidge's published books and the fabled "luck" that brought him to the White House. The book is illustrated with historic black & white photographs, but no editorial cartoons this time around.