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The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge

by Calvin Coolidge

3.78 of 5 stars 3.78 · rating details · 99 ratings · 18 reviews

CONTENTS: Scenes of My Childhood Seeking an Education The Law and Politics In National Politics On Entering and Leaving the Presidency Some of the Duties of the President Why I Did Not Choose to Run

Paperback , 272 pages

Published September 13th 2004 by University Press of the Pacific (first published 1929)

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Aug 03, 2011 Jeffrey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very enlightening glimpse into the life of an often ignored president. I really enjoyed how he innocently incorporated his religious beliefs into all that he did. He didn't even know that "he wasn't supposed to do that" (at least by today's flawed standards), let alone quote scripture to make his point. Now Coolidge wasn't perfect, but he was very principled and wise. He served during a time where transportation was very slow, speeches weren't written for him, and everything was done using techn ...more

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Feb 05, 2015 Don Incognito rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have been an admirer of Calvin Coolidge (as was President Reagan) for several years, and have not found anything negative to say about him. (No, poor schoolchildren, not that he took so many naps during his presidency. The excessive sleep wasn't due to laziness or any other failing, you know--there was a valid and understandable reason.)

So it pains me to say that I was disappointed by his autobiography. I think it just wasn't in his nature to speak candidly about any of his personal or interpe I have been an admirer of Calvin Coolidge (as was President Reagan) for several years, and have not found anything negative to say about him. (No, poor schoolchildren, not that he took so many naps during his presidency. The excessive sleep wasn't due to laziness or any other failing, you know--there was a valid and understandable reason.)

So it pains me to say that I was disappointed by his autobiography. I think it just wasn't in his nature to speak candidly about any of his personal or interpersonal matters. And he discusses various events or times in his life but doesn't really have anything special to say about them (such as the duties and daily life of the POTUS, which he describes at length, and how he was nominated to be Warren Harding's vice-president), and probably mentions them only because he feels obligated to.
Worse, Coolidge has relatively little to say even about certain issues and events in his life and career that biographers later deemed very significant. His accounts of his youth, college education, work as a country lawyer, and career as a civic service-minded local politician in Massachusetts generally follow a pattern of "this happened, then that happened, then I did this, then I did that; this happened, and I did this in response," and sometimes the descriptions of events are so abstracted and so perfunctory that discussing them was almost pointless.

The account of Coolidge's career as a Massachusetts state legislator and then governor is interesting enough, but I picked up only a few new and/or unexpected details.
One concerns how Coolidge handled the Boston Police Strike of 1919. His famous statement "There is no right to strike against the public safety, by any body, any time, any where" apparently was not said in any public address, but written in a letter replying to AFL leader Samuel Gompers, who had telegraphed Coolidge to request that Coolidge fire the Boston police commissioner and reinstate the police officers who had been fired for illegally attempting to form an AFL-affiliated union. (According to Massachusetts law, the governor--not the mayor of Boston--appointed the Boston police commissioner; and Coolidge states that the Boston police had all agreed not to form a collective bargaining union. That's why the strike was illegal.) The other is that as a state legislator, Coolidge was apparently considered something of a liberal by others in his own party.

The chapters on Coolidge's presidency are the real disappointment. This period of Coolidge's life and career is, of course, what anyone would be most interested in; but Coolidge is still so reserved that you don't learn anything you could learn from a later third-party biography.
Regarding what was probably the defining event of his presidency--the death of his younger son Calvin Jr.--he has at most a page of words. He manages to illuminate his reaction well enough, strongly hinting that Calvin Jr.'s death took away any pleasure he derived from being POTUS; but he says absolutely nothing to indicate any emotional suffering he went through afterward (even though Calvin Jr died in summer 1924, when Calvin Sr. was running for his own term as president, which means the death overshadowed his entire elected term in office).

The other thing I hoped to learn about which Coolidge does not mention at all is why he and his vice president, Charles Dawes, didn't get along. Other biographies explain the events well enough to make it clear that Dawes was the one at fault--he insulted Coolidge personally, refused to attend cabinet meetings, and insulted the entire United States Senate collectively. (Besides that, Coolidge stresses in this autobiography that he took pains to avoid making enemies, by refusing to insult people or hold grudges; so it's unlikely that he bears much fault for the feud with Dawes.) But they never explain what Dawes's problem was, and even if they did, I would still want to know Coolidge's viewpoint. So I am disappointed that he completely passed the issue over, not even mentioning his vice-president by name. I suppose Coolidge avoided discussing Dawes simply because he had nothing good to say about him and believed in the rule 'if you can't say anything nice, say nothing.' ...more

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Jul 22, 2015 Kevin Baird rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not many presidents would be willing or able to cover the entirety of their careers in roughly 240 pages (with wide margins at that), but Calvin Coolidge's famous brevity applied to the written as well as the spoken word. The 30th president breezes through his life. While concise and relatively reticent, this autobiography contains some telling passages. Coolidge devotes about a third of the book to his boyhood and education. The first chapter serves as a tribute to the hardworking Yankees of hi ...more

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Jun 30, 2010 Lawrence Danks rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a great book this is. A real study in character and humble beginnings. Coolidge was one of our lesser known presidents, but one who impressed me greatly with his emphasis on high values.

I maintain an extensive website of President Coolidge, www.CalvinCoolidge.us , as a source of character and values and presidency education. I also wrote a play called "Cal - The Character, Wit and Wisdom of Calvin Coolidge" and portrayed Coolidge twice in a one man show.

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Aug 09, 2015 Charles rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read this book after reading Amity Shlaes’s “Coolidge,” in part because Shlaes more than once refers to the “Autobiography.” While it is not an analytical work, rather a straightforward exposition by Coolidge of the facts of his life, it is an excellent complement to Shlaes’s longer (and also excellent) work. And as with that work, the “Autobiography” shows an America that is dead and gone, but one that contained within itself multitudes of virtues.

Coolidge had a well-deserved reputation for b I read this book after reading Amity Shlaes’s “Coolidge,” in part because Shlaes more than once refers to the “Autobiography.” While it is not an analytical work, rather a straightforward exposition by Coolidge of the facts of his life, it is an excellent complement to Shlaes’s longer (and also excellent) work. And as with that work, the “Autobiography” shows an America that is dead and gone, but one that contained within itself multitudes of virtues.

Coolidge had a well-deserved reputation for being a careful wordsmith, creating plain speech with great impact. This book exemplifies that wordsmithing. But if you’re looking for Coolidge’s inner thoughts about the meaning of being Calvin Coolidge, you’re likely to be sorely disappointed. If you want a psychological self-analysis where he reflects on all his mental hobgoblins and who’s to blame for them, you will be even more disappointed. However, if you want Coolidge’s view on what and who was important in his life, along with a concrete philosophy consisting of a few well-chosen words and phrases, showing what drove him in life, you will be very satisfied.

Coolidge’s core value is industriousness, which as Charles Murray points out and discusses in “Coming Apart,” from the founding of the American colonies to 1960 or so was universally regarded in America as a, and probably the, core virtue required of any American. Of course, this seems somewhat strange nowadays, when industriousness has greatly declined and is regarded as first cousin to greed, and also as far subordinate as a virtue to the modern “virtues,” such as total sexual autonomy, loving oneself while living off the labor of others, and bemoaning supposed racial and sexual injustices. But for Coolidge, industriousness was the mark of, and requirement for, any respectable citizen.

So therefore Coolidge requires each person to do what he can with what he is given. “When we come into the world the gate of gifts is closed behind us. We can do nothing about it. So far as each individual is concerned all he can do is to take the abilities he has and make the most of them. His power over the past is gone . His power over the future depends on what he does with himself in the present. If he wishes to live and progress he must work.” Similarly, later, “Surprisingly few men are lacking in capacity, but they fail because they are lacking in application. Either they never learn how to work, or, having learned, they are too indolent to apply themselves with the seriousness and the attention that is necessary to solve important problems.” Such sentiments appear throughout the book, and Coolidge’s life itself exemplifies what can be done by a person who is industrious.

Coolidge also notes the importance of historical knowledge for education, by which he means real historical knowledge, starting with the Classical Age, not gender studies or what passes for “knowledge” in the modern America. As he says of his own historical studies, “They gave me a vision of the world when it was young and showed me how it grew. It seems to me that it is almost impossible for those who have not traveled that road to reach a very clear conception of what the world now means.” We see this today, when history teaching is essentially nonexistent—most people, including nearly 100% of our political leaders, are therefore unable to see, looking around them, what the world now means.

Coolidge also seems to have foreseen the Age of Obama. “I have tried to refrain [as President], from abusing other people. The words of the President have an enormous weight and ought not to be used indiscriminately. It would be exceedingly easy to set the country all by the ears and foment hatreds and jealousies, which, by destroying faith and confidence, would help nobody and harm everybody. The end would be the destruction of all progress.” A better summation of the Obama presidency and its effects would be hard to craft.

In one area, Coolidge does let slip his own thoughts. Poignantly, Coolidge says of the death of his son Calvin (at 16, while Coolidge was President), “In his suffering he was asking me to make him well. I could not. When he went the power and the glory of the Presidency went with him.” Given that Coolidge’s only sister died when he was in high school and his mother died when he was twelve, Coolidge doubtless had much internal sorrow. But he does not dwell on such things, and he is certainly not going to discuss it with the reader. It was not his way.

You can see why Coolidge is largely forgotten today. In many ways, that such an American was once President is a reproach to modern America, which in both its government and its people has neglected every single virtue that Coolidge regarded as essential. But perhaps everything old is new again, and someday a new Coolidge for a new time will bring similar wisdom to our country. ...more

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Jul 29, 2015 Mel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Almost a masters course in political thought. Coolidge was nicknamed "Silent Cal" for the reason of his brevity and straightforwardness, and there doesn't seem to be a wasted word in this short yet dense read.

The chapter "Duties of the President" doesn't so much discuss WHAT he did as president, but rather WHY things are or should be done that way. I think both critics and supporters of recent holders of the office would learn from Coolidge's insights.

The book, written over 85 years ago, is da ...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Jennifer Nelson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography , presidential-books , 2012-books

Although President Coolidge was a man to admire and had some skill in putting words together, his book leaves you wondering how someone could have such a "perfect" life. My suspicion is that Calvin Coolidge had an extreme passion for order and calmness and that in his mind he rewrote his life's story to reflect that passion. He looked back on his past and only saw the things that worked out perfectly, and the things that didn't go so smoothly just didn't register on his brain (or he blocked them ...more

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Jul 24, 2014 Wesley Roth rated it 2 of 5 stars

One of my goals is to read a memoir or biography of every US president. This year so far, I read Peter Baker's Bush-Cheney biography "Days of Fire" (5 stars).

Coolidge's autobiography is a quick read, about 150 pages in current day book. The president gives a werping view of his childhood, schooling, college at Amhurst, law practice, then on to public office as state rep, then Governor, vice president and lastly president. Sprinkled throughout are his tidbits of advice to the citizen, which I en ...more

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Oct 08, 2014 Howard Spinner rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is more of a simple philosophical book on Puritan life in New England than an autobiography. Coolidge hardly mentions any legislative accomplishments, but the insight into his humor and philosophy is told with great simplicity, and is well worth reading by Republicans and Democrats alike.

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Jul 21, 2013 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars

Coolidge's autobiography was much more informative about his early life than his life in public office. In particular, I found his description of his presidency to be much less interesting than I had hoped. This was an interesting time in America, but unfortunately Coolidge chooses not to describe it.

There is a recent biography on Coolidge (by Amity Shales) that will likely be much more detailed than this slim volume. My only other comment is that the writing was Coolidge's own, but he would ha ...more

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Jan 13, 2012 Gary Schantz rated it 2 of 5 stars

Although I am still reading this book, I am not sure my opinion of it will change. While I like to read presidential autobiographies, and I know that they can be very one-sided, this book never seems to bring up any issues. Its writing is without judgment of anyone or anything. Maybe it was because of the times or maybe its because President Coolidge felt it impolite to point out things that cannot be changed despite their outcomes...I am not sure but in a nutshell the book reads like this:

"I le ...more

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Jul 20, 2011 Peter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: biogrpahy , politics

Very interesting. Probably the last president who had a truly traditional classical education, appreciated learning, understood the importance of classical knowledge, and applied it in his life and politics. He is under appreciated as a politician, a president, and a scholar. Historians, as much as a flock or a herd as any other group, do not appreciate Coolidge and his contribution to our political culture. His book, like Coolidge, is sparse, yet packed with observation and insight. I recommend ...more

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Apr 09, 2014 Brent Craig rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction , my-kindle-books

I knew little about Coolidge prior to reading this book. I came away impressed with his humility and work ethic. I wish the book had gone into far more detail about his days as president. Most of the book concerns his life prior to becoming president. Coolidge seemed like a nice person, probably on the quiet side,.

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Apr 26, 2011 Gene rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very well written. Whoever considers Calvin Coolidge as 'Silent Cal' is misinformed, and just plain WRONG. He had much to say and was eloquent and literate enough to say so! Read this book...you won't be disappointed.

Gene
4/26/11

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Dec 04, 2013 Art rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this book. Calvin Coolidge has moved up in the top 5 presidents of all and found the book simple and refreshing.

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Nov 06, 2012 Helen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Finished at last! This book is a dry read (for me) at best. However, it gave me insight to this man that I knew little about.

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May 27, 2009 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: basic-non-fiction

Bland, but not bad as far as Presidential autobiographies. Nearly as good as US Grant's memoirs.

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Sep 03, 2010 Brian S. Wise rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Endearing for its lack of pretense.

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About Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the thirtieth President of the United States (1923–1929). A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state. His actions during the Boston Police Strike of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight. Soon after, he was elected as the twenty-ninth Vice President in 1920 a ...more

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The Quotable Calvin Coolidge: Sensible Words for a New Century

Have faith in Massachusetts; 2d ed. A Collection of Speeches and Messages

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“Wealth comes from industry and from the hard experience of human toil. To dissipate it in waste and extravagance is disloyalty to humanity.” — 19 likes

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