This vintage book contains a detailed biography of Calvin Coolidge. John Calvin Coolidge Jr. (1872–1933) served as the President of the United States between 1923 and 1929. Originally a Republican lawyer from Vermont, he worked his way up the political ladder before becoming the governor of Massachusetts. He was elected as the vice president of the United States after his decisive response to the Boston Police Strike of 1919, and succeeded president Warren G. Harding upon his death in 1923. Contents include: “Yankee Ancestry and Vermont Environment”, “Birth and Boyhood”, “Preparing for College”, “Early Days in Northampton”, “The Horizon Widens”, “Up The Political Ladder”, “A Friend Appears”, “Lieutenant Governor”, “Governor of Massachusetts”, “The Boston Police Strike of 1919”, “In National Politics”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction. “Calvin Coolidge - The Man From Vermont” was first published in 1939.

“I heard one [presidential] candidate say that what this country needed was a president for the ‘90s,” Ronald Reagan once said. “I was set to run again. I thought he said a president in his 90s.” Abraham Lincoln, in one instance, was able to put a serious injury in a humorous light; in response to a young woman’s question about where a soldier was wounded, Lincoln replied, “Ma’am, the bullet that wounded him would not have wounded you.” Presidents often bring a sense of humor to the White House with them, allowing the American public to catch a glimpse of their not-so-serious sides. This book examines how five of the nation's funniest chief executives—Abraham Lincoln, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan—used wit and humor to their advantage during their terms as president, and how their management of the Executive Branch was thereby enhanced. As a bonus, the effective use of humor by several unsuccessful presidential candidates is surveyed.

Calvin Coolidge: A Documentary Biography reveals the "album version" of President Calvin Coolidge, featuring extended excerpts and, indeed, often the entire texts of major Coolidge addresses-as well as presenting a host of other illuminating documents, authored both by or about America's vastly underrated thirtieth president. Calvin Coolidge: A Documentary Biography shines a searchlight on Silent Cal Coolidge's world and worldview as no previous book ever has. It's all here: * The opposites-attract love story of taciturn Cal Coolidge and his outgoing wife Grace Goodhue Coolidge. * Jack Kennedy had his Irish Mafia, Jimmy Carter had his Georgia Mafia. The story of Frank Stearns, Dwight Morrow, and Calvin Coolidge's "Amherst Mafia." * Phenomenal vote getter Coolidge won more offices than any other president. The secret of how this painfully shy man did it. His strong appeal to Democrats. * The 1919 Boston Police Strike. How a city under siege ultimately makes Calvin Coolidge president. * How a runaway 1920 GOP convention stampedes to nominate Coolidge for the vice-presidency. * Unbelievable tragedy visits in July 1924 as Calvin Coolidge stands to become president in his own right--the death of his son Cal Jr. * The Coolidge presidency: a partnership of three remarkable figures: Coolidge, Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, and Budget Director Herbert Lord. * Coolidge vs. the Klan: reaching out to embattled minorities: Jews, blacks, Catholics. * The gutsy Coolidge vetoes.* How Coolidge chose "not to run" in 1928. Each entry also includes a revealing explanatory introduction by noted Coolidge scholar and award-winning author David Pietrusza. The book is further augmented by: * a Calvin Coolidge fact sheet. * a comprehensive Coolidge bibliography. * a detailed Coolidge time line. * a photo insert plus illustrations throughout the text. * an essay detailing recently discovered facts regarding the fabled Coolidge "Persistence" quote. In addition to numerous key speeches and texts from Coolidge himself, the volume includes contemporary readings from: * Bruce Barton * The Boston Herald * Marion Leroy Burton * First Lady Grace Goodhue Coolidge * Vice President Charles G. Dawes * Frederick H. Gillett * Al Jolson * Walter Lippmann * Judge Wallace McCamant * Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon * Dwight W. Morrow * Alexandra Carlisle Pfeiffer * H. I. Phillips * The Pittsburgh Courier * Theodore Roosevelt * C. Bascom Slemp * Frank W. Stearns * R. M. Washburn PRAISE FOR DAVID PIETRUSZA'S "SILENT CAL'S ALMANACK" "Calvin Coolidge was one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century and is certainly the most underrated. This book, compiled by one of my favorite historians, will give readers a full appreciation of why Silent Cal's wisdom shines like a beacon through the fog of historical amnesia." -Jonah Goldberg, author of Liberal Fascism "an authority on the 1920s and [Calvin] Coolidge . . . David Pietrusza has brought Coolidge back to life with his volumes about the president . . ." -Amity Shlaes

This portrait of Calvin Coolidge reveals an astute politician and thinker seeking to restrain the unprecedented spending pressures of the 1920s and maintain a limited role for the federal government within his definition of progressivism. He did so without a strong party caucus in Congress. Instead, he used considerable rhetorical skills, a knack for publicity, and the advent of radio and other new forms of mass-circulation media to sway public opinion and keep his priorities at the forefront of national politics throughout his presidency. The book argues that, although Coolidge has been seen as the inspiration for supply-side economics and tax cuts amid growing budget deficits since the 1980s, his policy was to secure budget surpluses and debt reduction before tax cuts. The book examines his approach to the issues that continue to trouble American politics today, including questions about the scale and scope of the federal government.

In the first full-scale biography of Calvin Coolidge in a generation, Robert Sobel shatters the caricature of our thirtieth president as a silent, do-nothing leader. Sobel instead exposes the real Coolidge, whose legacy as the most Jeffersonian of all twentieth century presidents still reverberates today.