Customer Reviews

Coolidge

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4 star:		(7)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

There aren't too many biographies about the life of Calvin Coolidge. This is an absorbing book that is sure to shatter many myths about Coolidge. I highly recommend it for your reading list.

President Coolidge was not a man accustomed to tooting his horn. He is well known for his economical use of words. Without a doubt moderate or conservative in personal behavior, President Coolidge should not be confused with modern political conservatives. While his personal behavior was clearly conservative, his political beliefs were more identifiable with those associated with modern libertarianism. President Coolidge was one who believed that government should exercise restraint and not limit liberty. Despite this belief that government should exercise restraint, President Coolidge's Administration suffered very little from scandal.

Modern historians often portray Coolidge as a minor figure and trivialize his time as President. Often portrayed as a lackey for big business and for not doing anything to prevent the Great Depression, this biography puts holes in the myth that he was in the pocket of big business and responsible for the Depression. President Coolidge was neither lazy, unintelligent, nor an accidental President. Coolidge understood the concept of restraint and approached life as President from that perspective. Not concerned with the outward trappings of power, Coolidge stayed true to his Vermont roots.

You will find that Coolidge was neither indolent nor unintelligent after reading this book. President Coolidge is just the kind of President we need today.

Calvin Cooliedge. Who remmembers him? not very many people. This book will explain why Coolidge's simple ways made him one of the most imporant presidents of the 20th century, not because he accomplished alot but prescisely because he set out to do as little as possible.

Reagan thought Coolidge was an American hero. Why? This book will explain the great enigma of Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge emerged as an American hero when he stood up to the Boston Police department when they went on strike. He fired them and hired new officers because this was a time of anarchy in the city and the people needed security.

As president Coolidge vowed to keep his hands off government, off taxes and away from the public space. He beleived what was good for business was good for America, and he helped support the rising market. Coolidge wanted to pass as few laws as possible so as to keep the government from encroaching on the people. He was a true Jeffersonian.

Coolidge was sworn in with his family bible. He never travelled abroad(except Cuba) and never flew in an airplane or went down in a submarine. He was the last of a dying breed of simple politicians who valued the simple american life. This is an important addition to any collection of American political biography and an important read for someone perplexed with the current governments invasion into our daily lives.

The late author, Robert Sobel, has done a fine job in peeling away the crusty layers of our thirtieth president. Known for his taciturn and somnolent personality, Calvin Coolidge is revealed in this book to have had more substance than one might have given him credit.

Biographers of presidents who are generally regarded as average or below average often write about their subjects with a bent of pushing them up a notch or two in history. A current biography of Warren G. Harding written by John Dean of Watergate fame, for instance, lays out a theme of trying to lift Harding out of the cellar of presidential comparison. Sobel is a bit less interested in Coolidge's lasting reputation although he would like the reader to be reminded that Coolidge did have some accomplishments while in the White House and that his administration, in stark contrast to Harding, his predecessor, was scandal free and that Coolidge, himself, was a man of tremendous virtue.

The myth that Coolidge was a hard worker is not quite dispelled in Sobel's book. One can surmise that the only midnight oil Calvin Coolidge ever burned was on the night of his sudden inauguration at his father's home in Vermont following Harding's death..... the oath being administered by Coolidge's father.

Sobel spends a little too much time on analyzing the country's finances during the Coolidge administration. At these times the author's writing becomes bogged down in detail and his prose begins to sound like that of his subject...humorless and dry.

That said, I would recommend this book to those who are not only interested in the period between the two World Wars but also in the juxtaposition of the Harding and Coolidge administrations. I also think that reading the Dean biography on Harding in conjunction with the Sobel book on Coolidge would give a fairly accurate, if not overly deep sense of the United States during this period.

One cannot imagine a Coolidge as president during World War II (or for that matter during the depression) any more than one might look at Franklin D. Roosevelt as president during the 1920s. The point of this book seems not to be so much about the successes of Coolidge policy but rather an effort to glimpse the president in a slightly more favorable light. To this end Sobel triumphs. Yet he reminds us in the end that Coolidge was a man who was decent, sometimes shrewd and who filled his role as president in a detached but popular way. Perhaps Calvin Coolidge was indeed the right fit for his times.

Of all the Presidents, Calvin Coolidge seems to have the least to offer to history. Even the "bad" presidents had something happen. Tell someone that you read a book about Calvin Coolidge, and the first question will be, "who?" But Professor Robert Sobel has done a magnificent job of creating a new out look on Coolidge. More than anything, Sobel shows us who Coolidge was. Amid the contoversy of Wilsonian foriegn policy, the exhaustion of Theodore Roosevelt and Robert LaFollette' progresivisim, and the scandals of Warren Harding, Sobel shows how America embraced Calvin Coolidge because he was, more than anything, a right and moral man. The 1920's were a time when America wanted to take a break from politics, and Coolidge gave that too them. In response, the people gave Calvin Coolidge an overwhelming electoral victory in 1924. Sobel shows us that Coolidge was truly a man elected by the people, because he had no coatail congressman and very little support from his own party. To judge Coolidge, we must judge his times. Sobel shows us that the people in the 1920s wanted Calvin Coolidge, and no matter what Arthur Schlesinger thinks, Coolidge the man for the job. Sobel does a great job of showing how active Coolidge was in his administration, no matter how many naps he took. An interesting look at a conservative era in politics in which most liberal historians want to paint as a failure. Great book. Instead of a drap, boring, business-tool that history thinks of President Coolidge; Sobel gives us a man who worked hard for his constituents, was a unanimous choice of the people, and a man stricken by the death of his son. Very entertaining, and it makes one want to know more about the Harding-Coolidge-Hoover years.

If you want to learn about Calvin Coolidge the man, the father, the husband, the politician and the President this is the book to read. Sobel does a excellent job at presenting Coolidge in a blanced way showing his strengths, accomplishments and achievments as well as his shortcomings, weaknesses and failures. Unlike some historians who like to just say Coolidge did nothing or slept through is Presidency silently, Sobel shows he had achievements, was active in reducing government, its taxation and spending while bringing in surpluses that he successfully pushed to have refunded to the taxpayer. Sobel also shows that while the rich benefitted from the tax breaks given under Coolidge's Presidency that in the end the vast majority of people did not have to pay taxes under his tax plans. Unemployment was down to almost 3%. Was there problems? There are always problems no matter how good times are and Sobel explores these as well. Farmers struggled under Coolidge's administration and Sobel does a good job of showing why. Sobel's book shows all of these things in a balanced light bringing forth Coolidge, his life, his Presidency as they were with the roaring 20's in full swing and being potrayed in this book as a backdrop to what Coolidge was doing at the time. The book is well written, I was never bored and never found it tedious to read and enjoyed every page. Excellent job by Sobel in presenting us with one fantastic biography of Calvin Coolidge! 5 Stars!
[...]

I read this book based on recommendations that this is the bio to read regarding Coolidge. Those reviews are right on point. This is an outstanding book, well researched, moves quickly and keeps the reader engaged throughout.

It is obvious that the writer liked Coolidge and thinks he is an underrated President. That said, he did acknowledge Coolidge's shortcomings, almost all surrounded his dry demeanor.

The book was well researched and gave me a really good taste of the times that Coolidge grow up in. It talked about the issues that led to his Presidency (The Teapot Dome Scandal) and gave enough detail to explain the entire situation to better understand why Coolidge could've been implicated in the events that led to Harding's downfall...but ultimately the author explained why he wasn't implicated.

I've read a lot of Presidential bios and I would rate this against any I've read so far. It is a difficult task for an author such as Sobel to write a bio about a little-known President who didn't serve during the "sexiest" events in American history. However, the author wrote in an interesting way about the issues Coolidge had to face and by the stats and details provided it appears Coolidge did overcome and manage the events that needed his expertise during his Presidency. And, it appears he gets blamed incorrecly for laying the foundation that led to the depression. As a side note, I think Hoover is wrongly blamed for the depression as way. The economy has an ebb and flow to it and Coolidge served during a downturn, while Hoover rode the worst economic times in our history that I feel he is wrongly blamed for.

Great book and really an underrated President that I am glad I know a lot more about.

There aren't too many biographies about the life of Calvin Coolidge. This is an absorbing book that is sure to shatter many myths about Coolidge. I highly recommend it for your reading list.

President Coolidge was not a man accustomed to tooting his horn. He is well known for his economical use of words. Without a doubt moderate or conservative in personal behavior, President Coolidge should not be confused with modern political conservatives. While his personal behavior was clearly conservative, his political beliefs were more identifiable with those associated with modern libertarianism. President Coolidge was one who believed that government should exercise restraint and not limit liberty. Despite this belief that government should exercise restraint, President Coolidge's Administration suffered very little from scandal.

Modern historians often portray Coolidge as a minor figure and trivialize his time as President. Often portrayed as a lackey for big business and for not doing anything to prevent the Great Depression, this biography puts holes in the myth that he was in the pocket of big business and responsible for the Depression. President Coolidge was neither lazy, unintelligent, nor an accidental President. Coolidge understood the concept of restraint and approached life as President from that perspective. Not concerned with the outward trappings of power, Coolidge stayed true to his Vermont roots.

You will find that Coolidge was neither indolent nor unintelligent after reading this book. President Coolidge is just the kind of President we need today.

Author Sobel creates an interesting read, bringing to life an obscure President, obscure from the fact historians and the general media have tended to ignore him. Cooledge exhibited an unusual degree of statesmanship, while cognizant of the politics that got him to the highest elected office in the land.
Much of Sobel's writing is in a matter of fact vain. While helpful, I found the constant insertions of Cooledge quotes to be distracting at times.

A great look at one of the most underrated and misunderstood presidents of America. One of the best presidential biographies Ive read.

I bought this book after a friend told me that Rush Limbaugh spoke highly of it on his show. I only listen to that show occasionally. What was interesting to me was that Limbaugh said that the Pres. Coolidge was Pres. Ronald Regan's hero and said that Sobel's book details the eery similarities between the two presidencies. I knew, as most do, that Pres. Coolidge was President Regan's hero, but not of the similarities. President Reagan put down PATCO, well he was just following Pres. Coolidge's play book. That is just one example. If you want to know your hero study your hero's hero and Sobel's book is the way to go. The book was organized impeccably and was not preachy. Sobel lets the reader draw his/her own conclusions.