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.

The austere president who presided over the Roaring Twenties and whose conservatism masked an innovative approach to national leadership He was known as "Silent Cal." Buttoned up and tight-lipped, Calvin Coolidge seemed out of place as the leader of a nation plunging headlong into the modern era. His six years in office were a time of flappers, speakeasies, and a stock market boom, but his focus was on cutting taxes, balancing the federal budget, and promoting corporate productivity. "The chief business of the American people is business," he famously said. But there is more to Coolidge than the stern capitalist scold. He was the progenitor of a conservatism that would flourish later in the century and a true innovator in the use of public relations and media. Coolidge worked with the top PR men of his day and seized on the rising technologies of newsreels and radio to bring the presidency into the lives of ordinary Americans—a path that led directly to FDR's "fireside chats" and the expert use of television by Kennedy and Reagan. At a time of great upheaval, Coolidge embodied the ambivalence that many of his countrymen felt. America kept "cool with Coolidge," and he returned the favor.

With the analysis of the best scholars on this era, 29 essays demonstrate how academics then and now have addressed the political, economic, diplomatic, cultural, ethnic, and social history of the presidents of the Republican Era of 1921-1933 - Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover. This is the first historiographical treatment of a long-neglected period, ranging from early treatments to the most recent scholarship Features review essays on the era, including the legacy of progressivism in an age of “normalcy”, the history of American foreign relations after World War I, and race relations in the 1920s, as well as coverage of the three presidential elections and a thorough treatment of the causes and consequences of the Great Depression An introduction by the editor provides an overview of the issues, background and historical problems of the time, and the personalities at play

A treasury of the wit and wisdom of Calvin Coolidge, America's surprisingly eloquent 30th President. Silent Cal's Almanack includes: * The ultimate distillation of Calvin Coolidge political wisdom. * A selection of Silent Cal's key speeches. * A thought-provoking original biographical essay. * A fascinating and unique 50-page portfolio of Coolidge photos, editorial cartoons and campaign memorabilia. * A Coolidge timeline. * A Coolidge bibliography. "He wrote simply, innocently, artlessly," H. L. Mencken once noted regarding Coolidge's prose, "He forgot all the literary affectations and set down his ideas exactly as they came into his head. The result was a bald, but strangely appealing piece of writing-a composition of almost Lincolnian austerity and beauty. The true Vermonter was in every line of it." Supreme Court Justice David Souter recently wrote of Calvin Coolidge: "The simple beauty of his English prose exceeds anything I could say in praise of it."

Calvin Coolidge lived during a time of constitutional transformation – the Progressive Era and World War I – before serving as President of the United States from 1923-1929. Thomas J. Tacoma argues that Coolidge contended with this changing regime and world through as a Burkean conservative and an Americanist politician. In The Political Thought of Calvin Coolidge: Burkean Americanist, Tacoma contextualizes Coolidge’s thought in the Progressive milieu of the age and Coolidge’s own educational background in New England and then presents the core of Coolidge’s political thought: civilization. Tacoma maintains that Coolidge believed in civilization and that the traditional American political and economic order represented the highest achievements in western civilization. Coolidge’s speeches ranged across American history to defend the virtues of the American regime, and in his political career, he undertook to defend the constitutional regime he had inherited. Coolidge, famous for his emphasis on thrift, likewise situated his views on economy within his larger vision of civilization, and he mixed realism and idealism in his developed views on international relations. Through extensive research, Tacoma examines the way Coolidge responded to the challenge of upholding American civilization in the face of a changing world.

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.

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

“A brilliant, fast-moving narrative history of the leaders who have defined the modern American presidency.”—Bob Woodward In Republic of Spin—a vibrant history covering more than one hundred years of politics—presidential historian David Greenberg recounts the rise of the White House spin machine, from Teddy Roosevelt to Barack Obama. His sweeping, startling narrative takes us behind the scenes to see how the tools and techniques of image making and message craft work. We meet Woodrow Wilson convening the first White House press conference, Franklin Roosevelt huddling with his private pollsters, Ronald Reagan’s aides crafting his nightly news sound bites, and George W. Bush staging his “Mission Accomplished” photo-op. We meet, too, the backstage visionaries who pioneered new ways of gauging public opinion and mastering the media—figures like George Cortelyou, TR’s brilliantly efficient press manager; 1920s ad whiz Bruce Barton; Robert Montgomery, Dwight Eisenhower’s canny TV coach; and of course the key spinmeisters of our own times, from Roger Ailes to David Axelrod. Greenberg also examines the profound debates Americans have waged over the effect of spin on our politics. Does spin help our leaders manipulate the citizenry? Or does it allow them to engage us more fully in the democratic project? Exploring the ideas of the century’s most incisive political critics, from Walter Lippmann and H. L. Mencken to Hannah Arendt and Stephen Colbert, Republic of Spin illuminates both the power of spin and its limitations—its capacity not only to mislead but also to lead.

Accidental presidents, those who assume office as a result of death, assassination or resignation, struggle to establish their legitimacy. This book examines and evaluates the strategies of nine accidental presidents, from John Tyler to Gerald Ford, to demonstrate authority and their capacity to govern.