by Amity Shlaes
First published 2013
Calvin Coolidge never impressed the pollsters. The reserved Vermonter earned the nickname "Silent Cal" and faced dismissal as passive and quiet. Most Americans remember his presidency from 1923 to 1929 as frivolous years before the Great Depression struck. Amity Shlaes challenges this view with fresh research into the 1920s and its overlooked leader. She demonstrates that the mid-1920s created our modern lifestyle as the nation gained electricity, Americans bought their first automobiles, and federal deficits turned into surpluses. Coolidge emerges as the most modern president of his era, promoting both the car industry and aviation while championing Charles Lindbergh. His restraint reflected strength rather than weakness. As Massachusetts governor and later president, he tackled divisive issues by controlling public sector unions, cutting spending relentlessly, and refusing funds for new interest groups. Coolidge grasped that less government could produce better results. He shrank the federal budget while the economy expanded, wages increased, tax rates declined, and unemployment fell. This biography shows how one man's discipline created a decade of remarkable prosperity.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, political-science, non-fiction, american-history
Vibes: thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-figure
Setting: United States, Vermont
Period: 1920s, 1923-1929
536 pages · Hardcover · Harper