Silent Cal

The Life and Times of President Calvin Coolidge

By: Jeffrey Smith

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Silent Cal: The Life and Times of President Calvin Coolidge represents yet another entry in my "Bringing History Alive" series of non-fictional narratives. The often overlooked 30th President of the United States was in office for much of the era of the Roaring Twenties, also known as the era of Coolidge Prosperity.

A Vermonter by birth, Coolidge spent much of his life in Massachusetts. Trained as a lawyer, he later entered the world of politics. Coolidge served in local and statewide offices before he was elected Vice President of the United States in 1920. After the sudden and unexpected death of Warren G. Harding in 1923, Coolidge asceneded to the presidency. A year later, he was elected Presiden of the United States in his own right.

The only president born on Independence Day, Coolidge helped restore faith in the federal government after the scandal-ridden years of the Harding Administration. Like his predecessor, Coolidge was a fiscal conservative who believed in small government, deficit reduction, tax cuts, and carefully measured federal spending. Ever frugal, President Coolidge vetoed 50 bills deemed wasteful expenditures of federal tax dollars.

Coolidge's private life paralled his frugal and conservative public policies. He did not purchase an automoblie or home until after his presidency.

While closing guarding expenditure of tax dollars, Coolidge nonetheless believed the federal government had an obligation to assist the disadvantaged, including the mentally ill. Often overlooked by historians, Coolidge possessed a streak of social progressivism. He never walked in lock step with so many white Americans who were prejudiced against fellow Black citizens. And while he enforced Prohibition laws, Coolidge never ardently supported banning sales of alcoholic beverages. The 30th president was also an active supporter of women's suffrage.

Coolidge also endured tragedy in the White House. He became the second president, after Abraham Lincoln, to have a child die while serving as President.

While often remembered for his lack of public utterances, hence the moniker "Silent Cal," President Coolidge frequently communicated with the White House press pool. He further pioneered the use of the radio and newsreels to transmit his policy statements to the America public.

Throughout his life, Coolidge was depicted in photographs with a bland countenance or, at most, a tight smile. In reality, he possessed a well-developed and dry sense of humor. Many of his quotes have been passed down over the past century.

Silent Cal: The Life and Times of President Calvin Coolidge chronicles the life of a prudent, no-nonsense New Englander who rose to the pinnacle of power during the "Roaring Twenties."