Calvin Coolidge's Advice for Gov. Scott Walker

American Spectator ^ | Feb. 18, 2011

[T.L.Sink]

[Boston, Massachusetts,1919.] The Boston police had decided - against the law - that they would organize a union. The police commissioner said they were in violation of the law. Samuel Gompers, head of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), jumped into the middle of the dispute and issued the police an AFL charter as a union. The police went on strike. The situation was rapidly deteriorating. Gov. Calvin Coolidge was furious and the police were fired. Said Coolidge: "THERE IS NO RIGHT TO STRIKE AGAINST THE PUBLIC SAFETY BY ANYBODY, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE." In his memoirs Coolidge wrote, "It was beginning to be clear that if voluntary associations were to be permitted to substitute their will for the authority of public officials the end of our government was at hand."

[muawiyah]

Coolidge signed what he got. His rhetoric suggests he wanted easier standards for naturalization ~ he took what Congress sent him.

Not that he was a mealy-mouthed wishy-washy make a deal politician but he was still a politician ~ simply one that kept his mouth closed.

[re_nortex]

Coolidge had nothing to do with the Depression and most likely would not have made the activist mistakes of Hoover which added fuel to the fire.

Suffice it to say that, at least thus far, a compelling case to diminish my estimation of Calvin Coolidge has not been made in this venue. I still honor his place as among the true greats who held the office.

As for the "open borders" matter, Calvin Coolidge's statement makes his position abundantly clear:

American institutions rest solely on good citizenship. They were created by people who had a background of self-government. New arrivals should be limited to our capacity to absorb them into the ranks of good citizenship. America must be kept American. For this i purpose, it is necessary to continue a policy of restricted immigration. It would be well to make such immigration of a selective nature with some inspection at the source, and based either on a prior census or upon the record of naturalization. Either method would insure the admission of those with the largest capacity and best intention of becoming citizens. I am convinced that our present economic and social conditions warrant a limitation of those to be admitted. We should find additional safety in a law requiring the immediate registration of all aliens. Those who do not want to be partakers of the American spirit ought not to settle in America.

Plus there were budget surpluses each year during Coolidge's presidency. I really can't how a connection can be drawn from his prudent fiscal policies to the Great Depression.

[Aetius]

Well then I guess he was a politician since his rhetoric and words also explicitly supported restricitive immigration.

From what I’ve read the only reservation he had about signing the 1924 Reform Act was its exclusion of Japanese immigrants, but he didn’t let that stop him from doing what was best for the country and signing on the cut off of mass immigration.

Mass immigration only resumed after the 1965 Reform Act, even though its sponsors promised that it would do no such thing. The effects really weren’t evident until the 70s. If presented with a bill reestablishing caps on immigration levels, and undoing the 1964 act had been presented to Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush II, or Obama, do you think any of them would have signed it?

The answer is no. Coolidge did sign when presented with a restrictive bill, so that makes him the best President on immigration. I fully grant you that attaining such an honor isn’t hard seeing as how all those others I just mentioned were quite bad.

It should be noted, however, that Clinton initially supported the findings of the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan’s commission on immigration reform in the mid 90s which called for cutting legal immigration by at least one-third. Would he have actually signed had it reached him? Who knows? It never made it that far, in part due to Republican supporters of mass immigration like former Senator Spencer Abraham who helped sabotage the bill. My guess is that Clinton would not have signed it, as he has since become a typcial and ardent supporter of mass immigration.

[re_nortex]

It should be noted, however, that Clinton initially supported the findings of the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan’s commission on immigration reform in the mid 90s which called for cutting legal immigration by at least one-third.

That commission was bipartisan, 5-4 Democrat vs. Republican. As chair, the 1995 "U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform" report bears her name, of course.

As a liberal Democrat, what do you think could have possibly caused Barbara Jordan to support any form of immigration restriction? It would seem to go counter to her partisan interests since the bulk of immigration by the mid-1990s was Mexican, a natural constituency for her party.

[T.L.Sink]

Another statement for which Coolidge became known (and which liberals hate) is: “The business of America is business.” A little historical anecdote about Coolidge: He was known as “Silent Cal” because, unlike most politicians, he only spoke when he felt it was important to speak. And when he did speak it was in a very concise manner. In other words, he wasn’t a typical windbag politician. Anyway, a reporter once said to Coolidge that he had a bet with a friend that he could get Coolidge to say more than two words in a private conversation. Coolidge looked at the reporter and said to him, “You lose,” and turned away. Cal had a very dry and keen sense of humor as that illustrates.

[T.L.Sink]

I think it was part of the old liberal line in historiography to blame Coolidge for being a “do nothing” president and not taking steps to avert a depression. This argument was most strongly argued by the New Deal proponents. But nearly all modern historians have revised this position and reject it. First, because they realize the New Deal itself didn’t do that. Second, because economists are now aware of data (previously unavailable) that reveal the international currency and monetary connections of the global market. Americans in the 20’s were largely isolationist after WWI and didn’t want to get involved in foreign affairs. But, as we all know now, that was a fantasy. Coolidge isn’t blamed by historians for not knowing what no one else could have known at the time.

[T.L.Sink]

You may be right but I suspect that the unions (already unpopular according to polls) may fear a public backlash. The thing that is really different now than in any previous time is that we’re BROKE. Even unions can’t get blood out of a turnip! If there is such a public reaction the unions may lose not only wage demands but collective bargaining. But, as you say, it will be interesting to how this unfolds.

[T.L.Sink]

Right, and not only FDR but that old true blue unionist George Meany! Such a sort of collective bargaining as is now being defended was NEVER envisioned by the mainstream labor movement.

[T.L.Sink]

The immigration issue then and now are totally unrelated. First, immigrants then came overwhelmingly from Europe and had completely different cultural and work-ethic values than many today. Second, and most important, labor for the rapidly growing industrial and manufacturing base of the nation was in fact desperately needed. The reality today when the declining manufacturing base has been eclipsed by information-processing and high-tech cyberntics is a different world ENTIRELY than the 1920’s. No serious comparison can be made.

[surfer]

Calvin Coolide 1 of the only 2 decent presidents we have had in over 100 years.

We need a lot of Coolidge now...yet no one ever hears how great this president was...he was even better than Reagan.

[surfer]

Amen...Coolidge was the best.

We have the trifecta of disaster looming in our country the combination of 1919, 1929 and 1939...

And the result will be the same...progressives are just never happy until millions suffer and die.

Truly a twisted mentally ill bunch they are.

[Prospero]

That photograph of President Coolidge is almost unique. He's smiling. No toothy grin, mind you, but downright "warm," unlike every other photograph I have ever seen of him.

Put another way, in a lifetime of studying the presidents - and photographs of the presidents in particular - that is literally the first one I can remember that managed to capture Cal with anything resembling a smile.

Check it for yourself!

He's almost always photographed with the same thin-lipped, albeit "no-nonsense" flat and "Vulcan" expression, not a frown but not a smile, either.

Live long and prosper...

[T.L.Sink]

I agree that Coolidge doesn’t get the praise he deserves. But I think Reagan is far greater and may be rated one of the best of the 20th century. Why? His challenges were vastly greater than those faced by Coolidge. He precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union, created 22 million new jobs, and - above all - restored our national pride after the humiliations and failures of Jimmy Carter. That cites only a few of his great accomplishments.

[EternalVigilance]

"It was beginning to be clear that if voluntary associations were to be permitted to substitute their will for the authority of public officials the end of our government was at hand. The issue was nothing less than whether the law which the people had made through their duly authorized agencies should be supreme."

-- Calvin Coolidge

Great quote.

[Prospero]

In quaint New England farmhouse on an early summer's day,
A farmer's boy became our Chief in a homely simple way
With neither pomp nor pageantry, he firmly met the task
To keep him on that job of his is all the people ask. (That's..all..they...ask)

So...

"Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge" is the slogan of the day
"Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge" for the good ol' U.S.A.
A lot of politicians cannot do a thing but knock
But Calvin Coolidge is a man of action and not talk!

So just "Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge" in the White House, four years more,
We have a chance to do it in this year of '24,

He's been tried, he's never wanting,
He is giving of his best,

So "Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge" is our country's mighty test!

[Hoosier Catholic Momma]

My son has to do a report and Power Point presentation on a President. He chose Coolidge (I also threw Reagan out there, but he chose Cal). His dad and I are so proud ;)

[Madame Dufarge]

He for sure wouldn't be making the rounds of talk shows like Fidel Obama:

He once explained to Bernard Baruch why he often sat silently through interviews: "Well, Baruch, many times I say only 'yes' or 'no' to people. Even that is too much. It winds them up for twenty minutes more."

Silent Cal

[Aetius]

My guess is that this was one instance where a politician put the interests of her constituents and the nation as a whole above the interests of her political party. Maybe that’s naive. Maybe I’m missing something.

Jordan know doubt knew that Mexicans are natuarl Democrats (despite the delusions of people like Karl Rove, Michael Barone, and Richard Land saying otherwise), but perhaps she realized that an unending influx of them is not good for black Americans. Other black leaders must know that mass immigration is bad for most blacks, but they have obviously embraced it as a way to create permanent, demographic dominance for the Democrats and the Left. Once they get that, then they can redistribute even more wealth away from whites towards non-whites. Perhaps Jordan was more concerned about the average black person. Perhaps Jordan didn’t think the Mexicanization of the country is a good thing.

I don’t know for sure. I should probably read up more on her commission. It was a shame though that a restrictive bill might have passed had it not been for Republicans like Spence Abraham. Then again, I don’t think her recommendations went far enough. I think legal immigration should be cut by more like 3/4 or 4/5, down to no more than 200,000 per year, which would include all categories of immigrants inlcuding refugees and asylum seekers.

[muawiyah]

The Oriental Exclusion ACTS ~ 1881, 1924, etc. prove that NOT ALL immigrants were welcome ~ and that the US Congress knew very well what it was up to.

Wasn't just a "white preference" either ~ the 1875 act was aimed at "undesirables" ~ a choice term, but it usually meant any East Asian person arriving as a contract laborer or to be a prostitute, or just about anybody else Customs clerks didn't like.

At the same time there was agitation to slow down immigrants from Southern Europe and Eastern Europe.

BTW, whatever each of us claims about any of our immigrant ancestors it is always "immigrants then weren't like those today ~ they all wanted to become Americans". Which, of course, is total nonsense.

Many of mine arrived as Swedish captives ~ kidnapped for the purpose of settling a new commercial venture called New Sweden.

That failed, they all escaped and moved to Pennsylvania. Their job was to cut trees for the Swedish and British navies. Many of them figured out it was more lucrative to cut trees off more distant land to prep it for sale to new settlers ~ they became "The Cutting Edge".

They hadn't intended to come to America, and when they got here they had no idea where it was, nor did they even really know where they'd come from. No one spoke their language, nor did they speak theirs, and they despised Swedes and English people.

No, immigrants in the good old days were different ~ they wanted to survive.

[muawiyah]

HIGH PROTECTIVE TARIFFS ~ the second highest in US history, were passed in 1930 ~ ON TOP OF the existing high tariffs ~ and whether or not they were passed into law under Coolidge, it's worth noting that between 1925 and 1929, there were thirty-three general revisions with substantial tariff changes in twenty-six European nations, and seventeen revisions and changes in Latin America. In 1927 and 1928, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand all raised their tariff rates in response to the Fordney-McCumber Tariff.

And Coolidge did nothing ~ apparently thinking that prohibitory tariffs against American products and food were good for somebody ~ certainly not Americans.

What I blamed Coolidge for was for creating the environment that allowed the Great Depression to occur, as he did by advocating high protective tariffs.