Free Republic

Calvin Coolidge: July 4 1872-January 5 1933

After a war no one wanted and eight years of the devious and racially divisive Democrat Woodrow Wilson, America was ready for a change and “return to normalcy.” Nevertheless, it took until the tenth ballot at their 1920 nominating convention for Republicans to select Calvin Coolidge as their presidential candidate even though few thought could win. But the plain speaking Coolidge did win and went to work immediately to fix the Democrat mess that had put America in a deep recession that caused the unemployment rate to hit 15%. In just six months of saying ‘No” to new spending and...

Clearly we have to reach beyond academia if we want to reclaim our history. "Calvin Coolidge had four percent growth which candidates today only talk about as a goal," Amity Shlaes, the former Wall Street Journal reporter turned Coolidge biographer, said of the much-maligned former president. Shlaes, who has also written critically of FDR, was the luncheon speaker at the annual national meeting of the Philadelphia Society, a group of conservative intellectuals, formed in the wake of the Goldwater defeat of 1964. Seventy-three percent was the top tax rate in 1923, Shlaes noted at the Philadelphia Society’s meeting in Charlotte,...

The story behind a plaque at Mount Rushmore explaining the history of the United States of America with quite a Christian flavor would probably surprise many people. President Calvin Coolidge met the artist Gutzon Borglum who prompted him to dedicate the site for a carving of four president's busts in the 1920's. Coolidge helped to raise funds and was even present as the cornerstone was laid and said, “We have come here to dedicate a cornerstone laid by the hand of the Almighty. …The union of these four presidents carved on the face of the everlasting Black Hills of South...

FULL TITLE: Genetic test proves President Harding DID father a love child with mistress who he would have sex with in a West Wing closet One of the sauciest legends of the White House has finally been proven true, thanks to DNA testing. Relatives of President Warren G Harding revealed to the New York Times on Wednesday that he did indeed father a daughter in 1919 with his longtime mistress Nan Britton, after receiving the results of a genetic test linking them to the son of the love child. Rumors of Harding's infidelity became tabloid fodder in 1927, when Britton...

It was 88 years ago this month that President Calvin Coolidge handed out strips of paper (that he cut himself) to members of the press during a brief conference with these words: I do not choose to run for President in 1928. This stunning event took place at the Summer White House in the Black Hills of South Dakota on August 2, 1927. The implications of Coolidge not actively seeking the Republican presidential nomination for 1928 reverberate to this day. While the terse phrasing appeared to leave the door open for a draft movement, the result was that Herbert Hoover...

Americans love the 4th of July—and for good reason. Writing to his wife in July 1776, John Adams hailed the Fourth as “the day of deliverance” and predicted that it would be “celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival.” He correctly foresaw these annual celebrations “with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” On the first anniversary in 1777, the celebrations started, and they have continued ever since. The year 2015 will be no exception. But as Americans...

Most Americans, including most Republicans, do not understand what “conservative” philosophy, principles, and policies are. Merriam-Webster defines conservative as “believing in the philosophy of conservatism,” which it defines as “belief in the value of established and traditional practices in politics and society; dislike of change or new ideas in a particular area.” However, this definition is wrong. The root of conservatism lies in the concept of “ordered liberty” and the fundamental truth that human rights are God-given, not man-made and that individual liberty and freedom are birthrights. Calvin Coolidge, America’s 30th president—perhaps the most conservative president of the last century—emphasized...

President Calvin Coolidge warned in a speech given MAY 15, 1926, at the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, Virginia: "But there is another...recent development... the greatly disproportionate influence of organized minorities. Artificial propaganda, paid agitators, selfish interests, all impinge upon members of legislative bodies to force them to represent special elements rather than the great body of their constituency. When they are successful, minority rule is established... ...The result is an extravagance on the part of the Government which is ruinous to the people and a multiplicity of regulations and restrictions for the conduct of all kinds of...

President Coolidge delivers the first presidential speech recorded with sound and video on the lawn of the White House in 1924. Coolidge was hands down the most conservative president since Grover Cleveland (another good president). An argument could be made that Coolidge was really the last constitutional conservative president Some facts about Mr. Coolidge: He was the only president born on the 4th of July. He held more elective offices than any other president. As governor of Massachusetts he broke the Boston Police strike of 1919 and was quoted as saying "There is no right to strike against the public...

23/02/2006 - Duke: Duke study posits presidents had mental illness U-Wire via NewsEdge Corporation : By Haley Hoffman, The Chronicle (Duke) DURHAM, N.C. -- No one would ever expect the general who led the Union army to victory in the Civil War to have a debilitating fear of blood. But Ulysses S. Grant was among the 49 percent of former U.S. presidents afflicted by mental illness, according to an article published recently by psychiatrists at the Duke University Medical Center. Jonathan Davidson, professor of psychiatry and director of the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Program, has a particular interest in history,...

When television showed police turning their backs on Mayor Bill de Blasio recently, many viewers instinctively rotated in their chairs along with the police. After all, Mayor de Blasio’s pandering to race-oriented special-interest groups has appalled many voters. More than half of New Yorkers recently told Quinnipiac pollsters that they disapprove of the way the mayor handles the police department. The next move, a strike by the policemen, may already be underway informally: Summonses and arrests have dropped dramatically since the murder of two patrolmen by a man who had said he would “put wings on pigs.” And if the...

After the GOP’s midterm-elections sweep, the Republican Party holds more U.S. House seats and controls more state houses than at any time since 1928. Having reached this goal, the GOP now needs to look for a 2016 presidential nominee to match this success. President Calvin Coolidge, who sat in the Oval Office from 1923 to 1929, would be a smart model for the party. He reined in spending and reduced tax rates at a time when it was as needed as it is today. President Ronald Reagan admired Coolidge so much that he hung a portrait of the 30th president...

Author David Petrusza discusses the pivotal 1924 election for president, won by "Silent Cal Coolidge."

Our President may be a well-educated and a very smart guy, but he seems to have skipped out on his world history classes. He certainly would have learned the absolutely true saying that “history repeats itself.” He would also know that any dithering with ISIS will only cause us more pain and lost lives in the future. History does repeat itself, and regularly. A perfect example has been on display with the debt crisis in Argentina. The country has defaulted on its debt. Its President, Cristina Kirchner, did not accept blame for the default. She pointed the finger at two...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania We meet to celebrate the birthday of America. The coming of a new life always excites our interest. Although we know in the case of the individual that it has been an infinite repetition reaching back beyond our vision, that only makes it the more wonderful. But how our interest and wonder increase when we behold the miracle of the birth of a new nation. It is to pay our tribute of reverence and respect to those who participated in such a mighty event that we annually observe the fourth day of July. Whatever may have been the...

A San Fernando Valley lawmaker wants the White House to put a rug woven by Armenian orphans and given to President Calvin Coolidge nearly a century ago on public display. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) is among a bipartisan group of U.S. Congress members calling on President Obama to reverse the White House’s decision to back out of lending the rug out for a Dec. 16 exhibition at the Smithsonian Institute. The Armenian orphan rug, which measures 11′ 7″ x 18′ 5″ and is comprised of 4.4 million individual knots, reportedly took girls in the Ghazir Orphanage of Near East Relief...

Turkey's ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide is consistent with an unbroken Islamic supremacist pattern: never, ever admit wrongdoing; never, ever take responsibility for actions that cause harm; never, ever acknowledge that jihad actions (such as the Armenian Genocide) cause immeasurable suffering to human beings; always, always instead blame the kuffar who have the temerity to point out the wrongdoing.And Obama, who counts Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a friend, falls right in line."Armenian ‘orphan rug’ is in White House storage, as unseen as genocide is neglected," by Philip Kennicott for the Washington Post, October 21 (thanks to AINA):The rug...

Workmen transporting a house next to the White House. (President Calvin Coolidge apparently had no concern about this.)

Ninety years ago today, on August 2, 1923, President Warren G. Harding died at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, California. It was sudden, shocking, and has been fodder for conspiracy theorists ever since. His wife, Florence—described derisively by some as “The Duchess”—didn’t allow an autopsy, so we’ll never know exactly what caused the demise of the 29th President of the United States. It might have been congestive heart failure, or food poisoning, or even something more sinister. Seen in retrospect, through the prism of the scandals associated with his White House tenure, Harding is usually ranked well toward the...