Opinion of Calvin Coolidge

[darklordoftech]

Here's what comes to mind in terms of facts about him:

- Put an end to the Ohio Gang that plagued the Harding administration
- Signed the Indian Citizenship Act
- Signed the Immigration Act of 1924
- Tried to make lynching a federal crime
- Made taxes very low

[136or142]

when the wit Dorothy Parker was notified of Calvin Coolidge's death she said:

How can they tell?

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07/04/silent/

[RINO Tom]

FF, of course.

[Lechasseur]

FF, of course.

[Enduro]

My favorite president.

[MarkD]

Here's what comes to mind in terms of facts about him:

- Put an end to the Ohio Gang that plagued the Harding administration
- Signed the Indian Citizenship Act
- Signed the Immigration Act of 1924
- Tried to make lynching a federal crime
- Made taxes very low

- Only appointment to the Supreme Court was Harlan F. Stone, who was one of the greatest Justices we've had on the Court.

[vanguard96]

I have started one of his bios and am meaning to get back to it.

Given how Hoover is erroneously viewed as laissez-faire by the left - despite FDR admitting about just continuing his policies I'd hazard to say that some of the building blocks of the crash were already well under way during the Coolidge administration - regarding loose credit and monetary expansion over the course of the 1920. Of course policies slanted against Southern and Eastern Europeans that came into effect during his time stand out as well as discussion of his handling of the Mississippi flood. However, he importantly did not have any known KKK members in his cabinet and had open dialog with black and Native American groups during his administration.

In light of this and the lack of extreme government expansion during his time in office when contrasted to Wilson and Harding before him and Hoover and FDR after him Silent Cal comes out looking very good by comparison. I have no qualms in saying he's the president I have the least issues with of any president in the age of US imperialism since the end of the 19th century. Would I make a new monument to him - no and I appreciated his own shying away from the limelight in the immediate aftermath of his presidency till his death in 1933 at age 60.

[Sirius_]

I fail to understand how he has a 66.7% favorability rating according to this poll.

[AtorBoltox]

I fail to understand how he has a 66.7% favorability rating according to this poll.

Contrarianism. Most scholars and historians look very favourably on Wilson and disfavourably on the gop presidents of the 20s so this forum has decided to adopt the opposite view for some reason

[Santander]

Both Wilson and Coolidge were FFs.

[mvd10]

I fail to understand how he has a 66.7% favorability rating according to this poll.

Contrarianism. Most scholars and historians look very favourably on Wilson and disfavourably on the top presidents of the 20s so this forum has decided to adopt the opposite view for some reason

I guess civil rights issues also play a role?

[Mr. Smith]

Massive HP.

[Middle-aged Europe]

HP on ecomomic issues, FF on social issues (for his time, anyway).

[vanguard96]

I fail to understand how he has a 66.7% favorability rating according to this poll.

Contrarianism. Most scholars and historians look very favourably on Wilson and disfavourably on the gop presidents of the 20s so this forum has decided to adopt the opposite view for some reason

Presumably the same scholars like the New Deal, to them FDR is a hero, they generally like LBJ except for Vietnam, love Lincoln blindly, and plump for Alexander Hamilton. They love the idea of spreading Democracy around the world, multinational organizations, global humanitarianism, etc. Most of these people are ardent fans now of the Washington Post and NY Times. If they are Republican they are compassionate conservatives in the Dubya mold or idolize Eisenhower, if they are Dems they are for the most part big time supporters of BHO or HRC.

Coolidge was very widely regarded by the public at the time in polling. Most of the academics are tied to the university system and thus have incentives to support the Conventional Wisdom.

Hoover is wrongly associated with laissez faire but his policies were nothing of the sort. He's not a good president in my mind at all.

There is a widely held belief that the Depression ended with the onset of WWII. While GDP showed an increase greater than any in history the on the ground truth was that people's spending was limited, rationing was enforced, and standards of living were low till the end of the war.

For many in this political mold, the wartime presidents of the major wars at least till Korea generally fare well in the public eye as they are given a wide berth in any freedoms they curtailed in order to allow the Americans to prevail in battle.

[RINO Tom]

I fail to understand how he has a 66.7% favorability rating according to this poll.

Contrarianism. Most scholars and historians look very favourably on Wilson and disfavourably on the gop presidents of the 20s so this forum has decided to adopt the opposite view for some reason

Presumably the same scholars like the New Deal, to them FDR is a hero, they generally like LBJ except for Vietnam, love Lincoln blindly, and plump for Alexander Hamilton. They love the idea of spreading Democracy around the world, multinational organizations, global humanitarianism, etc. Most of these people are ardent fans now of the Washington Post and NY Times. If they are Republican they are compassionate conservatives in the Dubya mold or idolize Eisenhower, if they are Dems they are for the most part big time supporters of BHO or HRC.

Coolidge was very widely regarded by the public at the time in polling. Most of the academics are tied to the university system and thus have incentives to support the Conventional Wisdom.

Hoover is wrongly associated with laissez faire but his policies were nothing of the sort. He's not a good president in my mind at all.

There is a widely held belief that the Depression ended with the onset of WWII. While GDP showed an increase greater than any in history the on the ground truth was that people's spending was limited, rationing was enforced, and standards of living were low till the end of the war.

For many in this political mold, the wartime presidents of the major wars at least till Korea generally fare well in the public eye as they are given a wide berth in any freedoms they curtailed in order to allow the Americans to prevail in battle.

The whole political world simply cannot be boiled down to "big vs. small government," period.  You just named those four as if they shared similar ideologies.  They did not.

[darklordoftech]

I fail to understand how he has a 66.7% favorability rating according to this poll.

Contrarianism. Most scholars and historians look very favourably on Wilson and disfavourably on the gop presidents of the 20s so this forum has decided to adopt the opposite view for some reason

You don't have to be a contrarian to think that civil rights supporter > segregationist who imprisoned critics of his policies.

[AtorBoltox]

I fail to understand how he has a 66.7% favorability rating according to this poll.

Contrarianism. Most scholars and historians look very favourably on Wilson and disfavourably on the gop presidents of the 20s so this forum has decided to adopt the opposite view for some reason

You don't have to be a contrarian to think that civil rights supporter > segregationist who imprisoned critics of his policies.

You kind of do to think proponent of laissez-faire, isolationist, responsible for Great Depression, basically a ‘do-nothing’ president >forerunner to FDR, visonary founder of multilateral world order

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I prefer him vastly to Wilson, and honestly think he's overly hated because of his post-mortem revival by creeps like Reagan, who misunderstood the context he operated under. He was the last dregs of a movement that thought the federal government was not supposed to be big (rightly or wrongly) but as Governor he had no opposition to safety nets and worker's rights regulations - he was no doctrinaire laissez faire activist, not that there was such a thing in those days.

This attitude was eventually defeated however, by one simple fact: the American people wanted a powerful government, something I don't think he ever got his head round. So when there was flooding in the Mississippi, Coolidge acted baffled at why he should even show up, or what people even wanted the government to do, which hurt him.

He should be commended for his opposition to racism, even though - as per style - it was a muted kind; he was no activist.

[TPIG]

FF. He was a true conservative statesman. His relative lack of words was made up for with his bold commitment to American liberty.

[vanguard96]

I fail to understand how he has a 66.7% favorability rating according to this poll.

Contrarianism. Most scholars and historians look very favourably on Wilson and disfavourably on the gop presidents of the 20s so this forum has decided to adopt the opposite view for some reason

Presumably the same scholars like the New Deal, to them FDR is a hero, they generally like LBJ except for Vietnam, love Lincoln blindly, and plump for Alexander Hamilton. They love the idea of spreading Democracy around the world, multinational organizations, global humanitarianism, etc. Most of these people are ardent fans now of the Washington Post and NY Times. If they are Republican they are compassionate conservatives in the Dubya mold or idolize Eisenhower, if they are Dems they are for the most part big time supporters of BHO or HRC.

Coolidge was very widely regarded by the public at the time in polling. Most of the academics are tied to the university system and thus have incentives to support the Conventional Wisdom.

Hoover is wrongly associated with laissez faire but his policies were nothing of the sort. He's not a good president in my mind at all.

There is a widely held belief that the Depression ended with the onset of WWII. While GDP showed an increase greater than any in history the on the ground truth was that people's spending was limited, rationing was enforced, and standards of living were low till the end of the war.

For many in this political mold, the wartime presidents of the major wars at least till Korea generally fare well in the public eye as they are given a wide berth in any freedoms they curtailed in order to allow the Americans to prevail in battle.

The whole political world simply cannot be boiled down to "big vs. small government," period.  You just named those four as if they shared similar ideologies.  They did not.

My critique was assuming more Democrats / modern liberals who liked Lincoln rather than GOP types who like FDR and LBJ. This is due to the humanities being overwhelmingly left in political leaning. In presidential ratings by historians who all must not be Democrats, FDR is near the top of the list of the Greatest Presidents along with Lincoln. So moderates from the other side are certainly a part of that view. The whole "If he was so bad why did he get re-elected" idea as well as giving him a mulligan for his handling of the Depression because of WWII.

I don't think LBJ is as well liked by conservatives - as his war was not a victorious one. I will admit that. Again the point was is that many historians are coming from center-left.

The Democrats love of Hamilton only magnified with the Broadway play. While his life is extraordinary and he's an important figure in the history of the US - I would say those that view the exceptionalism of the US, the Wilsonian principles of spreading democracy, and America's heavy involvement in the world on a nation state level in a positive manner will likewise view Hamilton positively regardless of political association.

[vanguard96]

I prefer him vastly to Wilson, and honestly think he's overly hated because of his post-mortem revival by creeps like Reagan, who misunderstood the context he operated under. He was the last dregs of a movement that thought the federal government was not supposed to be big (rightly or wrongly) but as Governor he had no opposition to safety nets and worker's rights regulations - he was no doctrinaire laissez faire activist, not that there was such a thing in those days.

This attitude was eventually defeated however, by one simple fact: the American people wanted a powerful government, something I don't think he ever got his head round. So when there was flooding in the Mississippi, Coolidge acted baffled at why he should even show up, or what people even wanted the government to do, which hurt him.

He should be commended for his opposition to racism, even though - as per style - it was a muted kind; he was no activist.

This is a pretty fair assessment of Coolidge in my view - including of the Mississippi flood

The big question is how the idea of people needing a large, activist government grew between the Progressive Era and the 1930's. It was such that even before FDR, under Hoover the US government was expanding federal spending programs. Of course certain things happened before the 1920's and this expansion was happening across many nations - Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, and elsewhere.

It's a very interesting period in the history of the US and the world (after the Civil War and before WWII) and its telling that a lot of history gleaned from primary sources from the time paint a different picture than the ones that Reaganites (or socialists for instance) assume about the era.