Calvin Coolidge: Silent

01The O.A.

02Learning English presents America's Presidents.

03Today we are talking about Calvin Coolidge.

04He was the vice president under Warren Harding.

05When Harding died suddenly, a little more than two years into his term, Coolidge became president.

06Coolidge is linked to two opposing ideas.

07The first idea is quiet restraint.

08The president's nickname was Silent Cal.

09He rarely took part in casual conversation.

10And as a leader, he often thought the best action was not to take any action.

11Many voters liked his cool style.

12Coolidge quickly earned a public image as a serious man who did not spend money or words easily.

13But Coolidge is also linked to a period in U.S.

14history known as the Roaring Twenties.

15In those years, the 1920s, the American economy was generally good.

16Many people spent money on exciting things, such as the still-new automobile, and on entertainment, including alcoholic drinks, cigarettes, and dancing.

17Creative expression, such as jazz and Art Deco architecture, became popular.

18Calvin Coolidge is often given credit for helping fuel the Roaring Twenties with his pro-business economic policies.

19But some historians caution against remembering Coolidge's business freedom policies too fondly.

20They say he helped create the conditions for the severe economic depression that followed his presidency.

21Calvin Coolidge and his sister were born and raised on a farm in the northeast state of Vermont.

22Coolidge spoke highly of both his parents.

23His father owned a store and also held local political offices.

24He had a public image for honesty, public service, and thrift.

25Young Calvin Coolidge helped his father in the store and hoped to be just like him.

26Coolidge also admired his mother's strong character.

27He was 12 years old when she died, and he wrote that losing her was the greatest grief that can come to a boy.

28Six years later, his sister also died.

29Their deaths made young Calvin Coolidge even more serious than he already was.

30But Coolidge was also known for his wit, a kind of humor that often depends on wordplay or intelligence.

31As a student at Amherst College in Massachusetts, Coolidge became known as an able and funny public speaker.

32That skill helped him rise in politics.

33He began with lower-level offices in Massachusetts and later served as that state's governor.

34Along the way, he married Grace Anna Goodhue, a teacher for the deaf.

35She was known to be warm and social, and the couple were reported to have a loving marriage.

36They went on to have two sons.

37In 1920, the Republican Party nominated Coolidge to be its vice presidential candidate.

38In general, voters liked the Republican ticket.

39They were ready for a change after the reform policies and international engagement of Democrat Woodrow Wilson.

40Sure enough, the Republicans won the election in a landslide.

41But Coolidge did not enjoy the office of vice president very much.

42He had little power in the government.

43During meetings, he often remained silent.

44One summer night, he and his wife were on vacation in Vermont.

45His father, Colonel Coolidge, woke them up in the middle of the night with some dramatic news.

46President Harding had died.

47Reporters quickly gathered at the small farmhouse.

48Colonel Coolidge had not put electricity in the house.

49So, everyone watched by the light of an oil lamp.

50Colonel Coolidge was a public official.

51He used the family Bible and a copy of the Constitution to swear in his son as the 30th U.S.

52president.

53Then the country's new leader did a very sensible thing.

54He went back to bed.

55President Coolidge believed in limited government, especially limited federal government.

56He permitted state and cabinet officials to decide as many issues as they could.

57Coolidge used his authority to focus mostly on the country's economy.

58At the time he took office, the U.S.

59was at the start of an economic boom.

60Coolidge tried to maintain that prosperity.

61He did not regulate businesses too much, and he sharply reduced taxes, especially on the wealthy.

62By nearly every measure, the economy grew.

63But the policies also widened the divide between rich and poor Americans and put the country's economy in a risky situation.

64More and more people began to invest their money in the stock market.

65Some put their dollars in dangerous investments.

66And business owners produced more goods than most members of the public could really afford.

67Increasingly, people borrowed money on credit to pay for luxury goods.

68At the same time, the economic situation of many American farmers was getting worse.

69The weather had been unusually dry in some places, and the price of food was falling.

70Farmers asked the federal government for assistance.

71But Coolidge rejected several bills that might have helped them.

72The bills had other problems, Coolidge reasoned, and he did not think that the federal government should intervene in the situation.

73So the farmers continued to suffer.

74But most voters remained supportive of Coolidge.

75Even though the president was considered a quiet person, he spoke often on the radio, appeared in a talking film, met with reporters regularly, and posed in funny costumes for photographers.

76He easily won election in 1924.

77Historians believe he could have won another term, too, in 1928.

78But Coolidge chose not to seek office.

79Some believed he was too saddened by the death of his teenaged son.

80Shortly after Coolidge became president, the boy had been playing tennis and slightly wounded his toe.

81The wound became infected.

82The infection spread to the boy's blood.

83A few days later, he died.

84Although Coolidge continued his presidency, he later said the joy had gone from the job.

85But when he decided not to seek re-election, he did not talk about his feelings.

86Instead, he simply wrote a note to reporters, saying, I do not choose to run for president in 1928.

87His secretary of commerce, Herbert Hoover, was elected instead.

88Coolidge retired to his home in Massachusetts and led a quiet private life.

89He did not go to the office.

90He did not go to the office.

91He did not go to the office.

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109But many historians have questioned those policies.

110They say that Coolidge did not pay enough attention to the situation of farmers.

111And they say the stock market was rising too fast.

112Seven months after Coolidge left office, the U.S.

113economy collapsed.

114The country was still deep in the Great Depression when Coolidge passed away.

115He died, quietly of course, during an afternoon nap at the age of 60.

116His will was but a single sentence.

117I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.