Amity Schlaes wrote a good biography just a few years ago.
Coolidge was famous for doing and saying very little, and he had great success with this approach.
There was a financial crisis (in 1923?) and Coolidge did nothing. And things got better within the year. Then in 1929 there was another financial crisis. President Hoover sprang into action and tried to “fix it”. And that’s the Great Depression.
Actually the financial crisis was in 1921, and it was Harding who took Mellon’s advice to do nothing. It was great advice!
It wasn't good. It was outstanding. Probably the most comprehensive look at Calvin Coolidge and his highly successful administration available.
The man actually was paid $1,000 by a national magazine for each article he wrote for them post presidency. Only three of his many articles were not published. He sent them back a check for $3,000. They told him the contract was for articles written, not articles published.
He tersely told them to keep the money because if they weren't good enough to publish, he didn't earn the money. Such was the integrity of the man.
To be honest, from 1920 to 1929, there were literally a dozen boom/bust situations that came and went. Lot of property speculation (Florida/California) and stock trades. It’s rare if anyone ever goes out and tells the whole story of the 1920s. I would agree Schlaes books (Great Society and Forgotten Man) ought to be read (very interesting insight to the era).
For many years, I too was of the impression that Coolidge was successful doing little. Then I read Murray Rothbard’s book “America’s Greatest Depression.” The author mostly goes after Hoover for all the “fix its” as you note, but Coolidge evidently had some fix its also that aggravated the economy.
Oh well, we are all imperfect beings.
I ran across a quote from Calvin Coolidge once about Herbert Hoover, to the effect that “that man has offered me unsolicited advice for six years, all of it bad.”
She also wrote an excellent biography of the New Deal, called The Forgotten Man. No doubt that WWII bailed out FDR economically.