Calvin Coolidge: The American Presidents Series: The 30th President, 1923-1929

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Macmillan, 2007 - 202 pages

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.

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Contents

Introduction
1
1 Out of Plymouth Notch
15
2 On the Brink
27
3 The New President
43
4 Hitting His Stride
55
5 The Coolidge Prosperity
67
6 Controversies
81
7 Getting Elected
91
9 High Tide of Republicanism
125
10 A Contested Legacy
141
Notes
161
Milestones
179
Bibliography
181
Acknowledgments
189
Index
191
Copyright

8 Beyond Americas Shores
109

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About the author (2007)

David Greenberg is a professor of history and media studies at Rutgers University, a columnist for Slate, and the author of the prizewinning Nixon's Shadow: The History of an Image. A former acting editor of The New Republic, he has written for many scholarly and popular publications, including The Atlantic Monthly, Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He lives in New York City.

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