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Hail to the Chiefs/Seven presidents who made a difference Date published: 9/25/2008
Part three of a seven-part series about U.S. presidents. QUINCY, Mass. --America's 30th president, Calvin Coolidge, left the White House at the height of his personal popularity, in a time of peace, relative tranquility, and national prosperity. It was a period of entrepreneurial spirit, opportunity, and vibrant artistic expression, great music, literature, and theater. It was the "Roaring Twenties."Coolidge had refused another term. He later wrote, "Ten years in the White House is too long." The Grand Old Party chose Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover as its candidate. Following President Hoover's rain-soaked inauguration, the Coolidges took the train from Union Station home to half of a two-family house in Northampton, Mass. In retirement, Coolidge rejected job offers that would have capitalized on his presidency. Yet, there was no golden parachute. Wealthy friends wanted to provide him with a retirement fund, but he turned them down and redirected their $2 million generosity to the Coolidges' favorite charity: the Clarke School for the Deaf, where his wife, Grace Goodhue Coolidge, had been a teacher. Always economical, Cal bought a used car--his presidential Pierce-Arrow--but now he had to hire a chauffeur. Coolidge was our last president to never drive a car--nor to fly in an airplane. Soon, his autobiography was earning him $5 a word, and subsequent magazine articles and a newspaper column allowed him to purchase a stately home with A YANKEE DOODLE DANDY? "Silent Cal"--who was this guy? He was born on the Fourth of July in Plymouth, Vt., and he died 75 years ago. Ronald Reagan chose Coolidge's portrait for the Cabinet room, but are there any lessons for us in his administration? While Coolidge was well-read, I doubt that he ever read the Tao Te Ching. Yet in a previous life, he could have written it. The ancient Chinese text resonates with the voice of Coolidge. His career path seems the Way of Lao Tzu. He was our least ambitious president, a man who succeeded without striving. His contemporaries called it "Coolidge luck."
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