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Silent Cal was the polar opposite of Trump, and wasn't much like any of the other Presidents of the 20th century.
He was elected as VP, and assumed the Presidency when Warren Harding suddenly died, and was re-elected on his own though he didn't bother with campaigning, except from his front porch.
While a man of very few words, he was known mostly for taking quick action when it was necessary. I think he became a popular as he was because he was such a contrast to Harding, whose Presidency was one of the most scandalous and corrupt ever.
Harding apparently relied on his looks; the voters thought he looked very Presidential, and he was very popular until the scandals became known over the course of his Presidency. He fathered an illegitimate child while in office, but that only came out after his death.
Coolidge cleaned out the corruption Harding left, and that may have been the reason why he won another term of his own.
The 1920s were a strange time in the United States.
Harding himself was not involved in scandals. His mistake, which he owned up to, was putting friends in positions without oversight. Hardings presidency as one of the most corrupt and scandalous is just you repeating what you were told and you didn't look into it. These last 3 administrations are many times more corrupt than Hardings. It's not even close.
Harding "relying on his looks" is such a childish, vapid comment it's laughable.
Hardings policies got us out of a depression in less than 2 years. That's probably something else you don't know.
Last edited by Loveshiscountry; 01-23-2019 at 08:16 AM..
Harding himself was not involved in scandals. His mistake, which he owned up to, was putting friends in positions without oversight. Hardings presidency as one of the most corrupt and scandalous is just you repeating what you were told and you didn't look into it. These last 3 administrations are many times more corrupt than Hardings. It's not even close.
Harding "relying on his looks" is such a childish, vapid comment it's laughable.
Hardings policies got us out of a depression in less than 2 years. That's probably something else you don't know.
As I mentioned, Harding was popular while he was alive. The Teapot Dome scandal didn't surface until after his death, and his child by Nan Britton was the final blow that ruined his reputation.
What depression? The U.S. wasn't in any depression in 1921 when Harding took office. America was thriving after World War I, and was still booming when he died of a heart attack in1923.
You're getting your presidents confused.
I learned all that in history class long ago. And I actually knew some old folks who voted for him; they were still alive back in the 1950s when I was growing up.
His looks are indeed what got him elected; that was the first thing they all said, and at that time, Harding was the perfect picture of what voters thought a President should look like.
As I mentioned, Harding was popular while he was alive. The Teapot Dome scandal didn't surface until after his death, and his child by Nan Britton was the final blow that ruined his reputation.
What depression? The U.S. wasn't in any depression in 1921 when Harding took office. America was thriving after World War I, and was still booming when he died of a heart attack in1923.
You're getting your presidents confused.
I learned all that in history class long ago. And I actually knew some old folks who voted for him; they were still alive back in the 1950s when I was growing up.
His looks are indeed what got him elected; that was the first thing they all said, and at that time, Harding was the perfect picture of what voters thought a President should look like.
Harding himself was not involved in scandals. His mistake, which he owned up to, was putting friends in positions without oversight. Hardings presidency as one of the most corrupt and scandalous is just you repeating what you were told and you didn't look into it. These last 3 administrations are many times more corrupt than Hardings. It's not even close.
Harding "relying on his looks" is such a childish, vapid comment it's laughable.
Hardings policies got us out of a depression in less than 2 years. That's probably something else you don't know.
If Harding had lived, US history would have been very different and probably much better, in that he would have undone everything Wilson did.
Wilson introduced and embraced The Administrative State, which is now referred to as the deep state. Our lives are more affected by the alphabet agencies that comprise the deep state, than we are the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches.
As I mentioned, Harding was popular while he was alive. The Teapot Dome scandal didn't surface until after his death, and his child by Nan Britton was the final blow that ruined his reputation.
What depression? The U.S. wasn't in any depression in 1921 when Harding took office. America was thriving after World War I, and was still booming when he died of a heart attack in1923.
You're getting your presidents confused.
I learned all that in history class long ago. And I actually knew some old folks who voted for him; they were still alive back in the 1950s when I was growing up.
His looks are indeed what got him elected; that was the first thing they all said, and at that time, Harding was the perfect picture of what voters thought a President should look like.
Like another poster said, check out the links. It was very short because government stayed out. Taxes and spending were reduced by 40% over 2 years. UE went from ~12 to ~4 and we came out of the depression quickly
If Harding had lived, US history would have been very different and probably much better, in that he would have undone everything Wilson did.
Wilson introduced and embraced The Administrative State, which is now referred to as the deep state. Our lives are more affected by the alphabet agencies that comprise the deep state, than we are the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches.
"If" makes it impossible to know what any outcome could have been. The past is past, set and fixed in its events.
It could easily be disputed that Harding wouldn't have done much to undo Wilson's achievements. After all, Harding benefited greatly from the Administrative state, more than Wilson himself.
The United States was not prepared to enter World War I at all, and at first, most Americans were firmly against it. Wilson not only had to overhaul the government so as to be able to fight the world's first modern war, he had to win the populace over to intervening in the war at the same time.
Wilson was really successful at that mind changing. By the time the country was almost ready, our people were eager to join the fight. That, not the creation of so much new administration, was the hardest part of Wilson's job, and he accomplished it brilliantly.
The Administrative state Wilson created did create a lot of new regulation, and those regulations did open up brand new areas of free market competition that never existed before. For the first time since the closing of the frontier, they allowed a guy with ambition brand new ways to rise to the top of the financial food chain. They also allowed a lot of land that had never been turned by a plow to go into production as well.
Since both of those things made a lot of folks more money than they had ever made before, a lot of folks liked Wilson's overhaul pretty well.
But it's also true that America never liked Wilson's foreign policies, especially his League of Nations creation.
"If" makes it really subjective. All we really know is Harding checked out in a flash when his heart blew up, and Coolidge didn't change very much of Wilson's overhaul.
Calvin Coolidge got to where he was through his administrative skill, not his looks or his other abilities. If Coolidge didn't feel the need to do away with Wilson's new changes, he must have had some sound reasoning at the time that permitted them to continue.
Last edited by banjomike; 01-23-2019 at 04:33 PM..
If Harding had lived, US history would have been very different and probably much better, in that he would have undone everything Wilson did.
Wilson introduced and embraced The Administrative State, which is now referred to as the deep state. Our lives are more affected by the alphabet agencies that comprise the deep state, than we are the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches.
Harding stopped Wilson's unconstitutional arrests and deportations, and pardoend those who Wilson had arrested. Wilson incarcerated those who criticized the draft, and Harding pardoned Eugene Debs for this. If Wilson had his way, the Constitution wouldn't exist anymore and schools would teach, "Never criticize the President's policies".
What the article said was simply true. If you don't know anything about Coolidge, he may have lived and died in Northampton MA, but he was a typical old time Vermonter: a man of few words. That's what he was famous for.
One of his most famous quotes was supposedly when someone bet that he wouldn't say three words. His answer was, "You lose."
Google Calvin Coolidge quotes if you want some examples of this man's clever, dry wit.
The best line about Calvin Coolidge was said by Mae West. Upon being told of his death, she was quoted to say, "I didn't even know he was alive!"
That quote also can be applied to a Conservative man talking about the death of his nagging liberal mother-in-law.
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