Born on the Fourth of July
As Harry Graver notes below, John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., thirtieth president of the United States, was born on this date 139 years ago.
A good man, a superb chief executive, and an accomplished student ofAmerican history, Coolidge was also a accomplished writer. My favorite Coolidge quotation:
It is a great advantage to a president, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man.
At least that used to be my favorite quotation. Commenting on Harry's post the other day, Ricochet member "Give Me Liberty" provided an excerpt from Coolidge's address on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It's gorgeous, powerful, and true:
It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning cannot be applied to this great charter.
If all men are created equal, that is final.
If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final.
If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final.
A last appreciation of Coolidge, a photograph of his gravesite. Here he lies in the cemetery of Plymouth Notch, Vermont, surrounded by generations of Coolidges, Wilders, Johnsons, and Browns. Can you tell which headstone marks the grave of the president? No--and that's the point. "We draw our Presidents from the people," Coolidge said when in January 1929 he left the White House. "I came from them. I wish to be one of them again."
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Jun '10
Re: Born on the Fourth of July
Ah! With this appreciative post of Coolidge, it just clicked what the "Silent Cal Productions" at the bottom of every page refers to.
I never knew you were such a fan of Coolidge, Mr. Robinson. When did you become one?
Edited on Jul 4, 2011 at 1:48pmMar '11
Re: Born on the Fourth of July
Oh, dear - all this talk of history - how far has the USA fallen, to be where we are now?
Jun '10
Re: Born on the Fourth of July
Excellent post, Peter!
My favorite Coolidge quote: "Be brief - above all things, be brief."
...
Ok, I can't be that brief. One more, if you'll allow:
"Nine-tenths of a president's callers at the White House want something they ought not to have. If you keep dead still they will run out in three or four minutes."
Jun '10
Re: Born on the Fourth of July
I would highly recommend Professor Paul Johnson's words on Coolidge in his book "A History of the American People" pg 716-722:
"He (Cool Cal) liked the idea of an America in which a man of ability and righteousness emerged from the backwoods to take his place as first citizen and chief executive of the republic and then, his term of office completed, retired, if not exactly with relief, then with no regrets, to the backwoods again."
Delightful.
May '10
Re: Born on the Fourth of July
Sadly, the graves of George W. Bush and future Republican Presidents will probably have to be guarded. But it's certainly a pleasant thought that a President would wish to be buried with his ancestors, rather than in some national memorial.
Jul '11
Re: Born on the Fourth of July
Great post Peter, except Coolidge didn't leave the white house in 1933 (that was Hoover) but in 1929.
Re: Born on the Fourth of July
Mea culpa--and I just made the correction. Coolidge died in 1933. He left the White House, just as you say, in 1929.
Re: Born on the Fourth of July
I. raptus: Ah! With this appreciative post of Coolidge, it just clicked what the "Silent Cal Productions" at the bottom of every page refers to.
I never knew you were such a fan of Coolidge, Mr. Robinson. When did you become one? · Jul 4 at 1:48pm
Edited on Jul 04 at 01:48 pm
One autumn when I was a kid--I may have been in junior high--my parents rented a cottage on Lake St. Catherine, a beautiful spot in Vermont. But it was autumn, as I say, and not summer, so there was nothing--and I mean nothing--for me to do. (I befriended a goose, who was as lonely as I, but that's another story.) So one day my father drove me to Plymouth Notch to have a look around. The beauty and simplicity of the place--and the image of Silent Cal returning as often as he could, even as a sitting president--stayed with me.
Jul '11
Re: Born on the Fourth of July
Samwise Gamgee: Excellent post, Peter!
My favorite Coolidge quote: "Be brief - above all things, be brief." · Jul 4 at 3:35pm
My favorite Coolidge story is about him at a dinner party during his tenure as Vice President. A lady tells him she bet against a guy who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of Coolidge. His reply? "You lose."
Apr '11
Re: Born on the Fourth of July
A quote from Coolidge's 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence speech: "No other theory is adequate to explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people. We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first".I doubt we ever have a leader like that again.