Calvin coolidge biography amity shlaes calvin klein

My introduction to Calvin Coolidge on this journey included seven biographies providing nearly 3,000 pages – and almost two months – of entertainment (well…scholarship).

Like many former presidents whose memories are dulled by lazy parodies or unreflective caricatures, Coolidge proved to be more interesting than I initially suspected.

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Yet he remains far more mysterious than I (or presumably his biographers) would have hoped.

Probably by self-design, Calvin Coolidge is a very difficult person to get to know. It is often recalled that George Washington possessed a demeanor so reserved that his personality was impenetrable to anyone outside his family.

Coolidge, on the other hand, possessed a mien so restrained and remote that even the NSA could hardly have deciphered his true inner self.

Based on what I do know of Coolidge, I don’t think he would be the least bit disappointed to know he didn’t