Why Coolidge Matters: Leadership Lessons from America s Most Underrated President Hardcover – Illustrated, March 12, 2013

Mr. Johnson tackles his subject with the skills of someone all too rare today -- an investigative journalist. He is doing the job most "historians" won't do. In a field of superb thinkers and diligent expositors of Coolidge, his work stands out as the best in recent years. Mr. Johnson's work is not a simple recital of biographical trivia. Unlike most historians, Mr. Johnson delves into a study of Coolidge's ideas and is equally an examination of statesmanship. While Ms. Shlaes has written a well-done treatment of debt and Coolidge's approach to it, Mr. Johnson takes on the entire worldview of the man. In Ms. Shlaes' book we see Coolidge as a very credible witness on economics. In Mr. Johnson's book we see Coolidge as authoritative on the high calling of public service (chapter 1), the duties of self-government (chapter 2), the purpose of education (chapter 3), the Founder's theory of government (chapter 4), the use of presidential powers (chapter 5), the shared nature of all people: race, immigration and women (chapter 6), a sensible foreign policy: mind our own affairs, conserve our strength and protect our citizens (chapter 7, p.224), and an Afterword containing Coolidge's post-presidential wisdom, as he looked at current trends and drew from the often overlooked "obvious" essentials that can still guide us now. In "Why Coolidge Matters," the way Coolidge thought and acted is brought into clearer relief as all part of one, complete whole. It is both a primer to Coolidge's own words -- of which there are many, including three books of his speeches -- but also is an introduction to Coolidge's comprehensive and consistent view of the world. Mr. Johnson reminds us that President Coolidge is discounted today not because he never said or did anything but because what he teaches is the most powerful refutation of "modern" liberalism's destructive legacy, from the schools to the inner cities to Washington itself. The man discounted for a lack of vision, saw where the mountain of bad policies covered by good intentions would lead long before later generations have. Coolidge is a force to be reckoned with and is marginalized at one's peril. Perhaps the fear that what Coolidge has to say might break through the assembly line of untaught and unchallenged students who become uninformed and complacent citizens is why he is not welcome in many of our schools let alone government halls.Be ready not to simply scan through the book, but delve into the principles of the last classically-trained statesman-philosopher to serve in the White House. Be prepared to grapple with the problems he faced and how to comprehend the substance of the ideas he articulated. Be equal to the challenge of thinking the Founder's thoughts, as Coolidge would say, to apply their timeless discoveries to what issues confront us now.You will be disappointed only if you refuse this challenge to think, to move past ignorant frames of reference and thereby begin to understand that the principles to which Coolidge directs our respectful attention -- the things of the spirit, as he called them -- build great and just societies. It is the Declaration and Constitution which gave birth to all our affluence and comfort, not the other way around. Before we can honestly discard the former two as obsolete or unworkable, we have to have tried them. Instead, it is time we start getting reacquainted with the ideas they contain and the sacrifice it requires of us to make them work.

In  Why Coolidge Matters: Leadership Lessons from America's Most Underrated President , author Charles C. Johnson successfully makes the case that Calvin Coolidge was our most underrated President. Johnson bases his assertion not only on Coolidge's achievements, but also on what Coolidge didn't do as President. Coolidge was a tireless advocate of the Founding Principles of our nation, and as such believed in a very limited role for the Federal Government in the lives of normal, every day American Citizens. Coolidge likewise respected the co-equal branches of government and clearly understood the duties and responsibilities of each branch. Coolidge's deep understanding of our nation's Founding Principles guided his decisions as the head of the Executive Branch and Coolidge often cited the Federalist Papers to explain how he reached his decisions. For example, Coolidge cited Federalist 51 to explain the separation of powers. Coolidge also understood that our unique style of individual liberty required not only personal responsibility but also men of integrity to administrate our Constitutional form of government, saying, "Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberality, and for the rights of mankind. Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government. " This Coolidge biography is long overdue. Because Coolidge was President just before the modern media came to be, his successful tenure was largely overshadowed by FDR's fireside chats and propaganda machine that called for excessive government intervention and blamed much of the nation's financial malaise of the 1930s on the Coolidge administration. Ronald Reagan deeply admired President Coolidge and frequently quoted Coolidge. After reading this book I suspect Reagan modeled much of his presidency on the principles espoused by Coolidge. This book is perfect for any serious student of American Presidents or American History. Mr. Johnson's writing style, while academic, is also very approachable for anyone who enjoys reading. I learned a lot not just about President Coolidge but also about what America looked like a hundred years ago. I highly recommend this book to all readers and especially for young students of history.

Coolidge has been characterized as a "Puritan in Babylon" with regard to his presidency in 1920's America and now like then, the Politically Correct US Left ("Progressives") have a fine collection of epithets prepared for him:He could be described as anally-retentive, a proto-facist, racist, a reactionary, enemy of the working man, enemy of social justice, dead white male, male chauvinist, religious fanatic, enemy of progress, oppressor etc. etc.It's a fact that his actions were inimical to US and international communists and Charles Johnson has done Americans a great favour in writing this book about the personal quality of Coolidge and his defence of America based on the Declaration of Independence rather than the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat".The book brings out the basic fallacies of communism as articulated by Coolidge such as:- The non-equivalence of the American and Russian revolutions. The American revolution was for democracy and personal freedom and bettered the lives of the American people. The Russian revolution (as hijacked by the Bolsheviks) was an extremely violent minority dictatorship that rejected personal freedom and went on to murder 15 million of their own citizens.- The idea that if the government controls everything, everybody would be happy and successful as a result of legislation.- When you deny the right to profit you deny the right of reward to thrift and industry.- Communism denies the Golden Rule. They claim the right to do unto others as they would not have done unto themselves.He particularly raised the ire of American communists when he opposed the 1919 Seattle General Strike with its attempt to form a revolutionary counter government based on workers communes (good book here is Ole Hanson's " Americanism Versus Bolshevism ").The author usefully goes on to bring out the personal qualities of Coolidge that can be shown with some quotes:"Our salvation lies in putting forward greater effort, in manfully assuming our own burdens rather than entertaining the pleasing delusion that they can be shifted to some other shoulders.""See that the bills that you recommend from your committee are so worded that they will do just what they intend and not a great deal more that is undesirable. Most bills can't stand that test.""Nine tenths of the callers at the White House want something they ought not to have.""It is a great advantage to a President and a major source of safety to the country for him to know that he is not a great man. "Coolidge always linked rights closely with duties which shows clearly throughout the text.Johnson seems to have written the book in a hurry but with plenty of research (58 pages of notes) and has perhaps tried to include too much of it, producing a slightly cluttered and non-integrated result. The reader can also go from the first chapter, "In the Eye of the Nation" straight to the Afterword, "What Coolidge Still Has to Say" and still catch the basic ideas.Altogether a very worthwhile book. Americanism Versus Bolshevism