1986 to 2008. Mr. Smiths career in washington began as a staff assistant to president richard nixon, working for Daniel P Moynihan during the reagan administration. Mr. Thomas was executive director of the president ial task force on regulatory relief. His he is a trustee of the Calvin Coolidge president ial fund. Please join me in welcoming mr. Dismukes and our panelists to the stage. He ideas and ideals. That guided coolidge. The president. The products not only of his no nonsense vermont upbringing studies at amherst and training in the law. They were also a result of his on the job experience as mayor of northampton. President of the Massachusetts Senate. And massachusetts Lieutenant Governor. And governor. During coolidges coming of age as a practicing politician. American politics, including his own Republican Party, were seized by a new impulse that called itself progressivism. The Progressive Movement championed many great causes and achieved some of them, including womens suffrage and a host of private, voluntary welfare initiatives. And institutions that included grace goodhue, coolidges lifelong project of the education of the deaf. But when it came to government progressive ism sought to cast aside traditional constitutional principles of separation of powers and limited government and to replace them with activist, headstrong and supposedly scientific government that would Reform Society from top to bottom and remake human nature itself. Progressive vision was a clever brand name. It appealed to americans innate commitment to progress that harkened back to our revolutionary founding. Even as it sought to repeal all the works of that founding, it appealed for a time to coolidge, and it plays a large role in american politics even today. At a 1924 press conference, then president coolidge, now a seasoned political pro and a confirmed and emphatic conservative, said this. Sometimes if a person is well thought of, he is called a progressive. As a matter of fact, all the Political Parties are progressive. I cant conceive of of a party existing for any length of time that wasnt progressive or of leadership being effective, that wasnt progressive. This was coolidge. His deadpan way of saying that the principles of the declaration and constitution and their continued application in the world of the 20th century and every claim to be on the side of progress in the customary all american sense of that word. This morning, we will hear from three accomplished historians and practitioners on the evolution of Calvin Coolidge. Is thought and practice at the time of rising progressive ism. Their biographies are in your program, but let me highlight the george nash is the author of several Founder National works on 20th century conservatism. Garland tucker is author of the high tide of american conservatism focusing on the president ial election of 1924 and christopher cox. During his seven terms as a member of the u. S. House of representatives was a budget hawk of could jettison dimensions. We will begin with george nash george. Thank you. In 1906, Calvin Coolidge was elected to a seat in the massachusetts house of representatives for all but one of the next 14 years. He held elective office, culminating in two terms as governor. Coolidges rise to prominence occurred during the progressive era, a time of militant reform movements and political ferment. That fractured the Republican Party. A time also of seething labor unrest and enormous immigration. In massachusetts, a heavily industrialized state with many factories. Pardon me. Nearly one third of the populace in 1910 was foreign born. How did coolidge, an undemonstrative yankee steer so successfully through these choppy political seas . Clearly, his probity, devotion to duty and unusual ability to win the trust of ordinary people across ethnic and party lines contributed greatly to his appeal at the polls. My right and my remarks today. I wish to identify two other factors. Both of them ideological. First. Coolidge survived during the progressive era because in many ways he was a progressive himself in 1907 and 1908, for example, state representative coolidge favored womens suffrage and direct election of u. S. Senators well before the constitu tional amendments were were enacted. Mindful no doubt of the considerable number of working class voters in his district. He supported legislation required wring one days rest in seven for workers and other bills intended to ease the burdens of working men. He vigorously endorsed an antimonopoly bill that would have provided prohibited business behemoths Like Standard Oil from selling their products below cost in an attempt to ruin their small competitors. A few years later, when a dangerous strike broke out among foreign born workers in the textile mills of lawrence, massachusetts, coolidge, now a state senator, was appointed chairman of a legislative committee on concealing action to bring the two sides together. After much effort, he and his colleagues resolved the dispute on terms that gave the strikers much of what they wanted and won coolidge plaudits for fair mindedness. He was no stand powder, a socialist opponent admitted. Indeed, coolidge, in his autobiography, declared that his record in the state Legislature Like legislature had been, and i quote his words, that of a liberal. And so it went as he climbed the ladder in massachusetts politics in 1919 as a new governor. He supported a landmark bill mandating that no woman or minor in massachusetts could be employed for more than 48 hours a week. Many manufacturing interests strenuously opposed him. He signed the bill anyway later that year and again in 1920, when he was still governor, he approved a host of other progressive legislative measures. This brings us to the second ideological ingredient in coolidges recipe for political success. In that era, his progressivism, though genuine and persistent, was tempered by his innate circumspection. And growing unease about progressive excess. In 1910, he remarked to his father that it is more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones. A theme to which he returned in the years ahead in 1912. Although sensitive to the plight of the mill workers in lawrence, he disliked their radical leaders who advocated an overthrow of the capital system. They were socialists and anarchists, he complained privately, who were bent on destroying, and i quote coolidge again, destroy all authority, whether of any church or government. When Theodore Roosevelt bolted from the gop in 1912 and campaigned for president as the nominee of the new Progressive Party, coolidge always a steadfast republican, remained loyal to president taft. He was incensed when roosevelt endorsed in principle, the recall of judges by popular vote. To coolidge, speaking at a republican rally. This was nothing less than an assault on the independence of the judiciary. And it made the election of 1912, in his words, the most important since the civil war. He was happy when roosevelt was defeated. Coolidge was not pleased, however, by the drift of things in massachusetts. By early 1914, he was alarmed by what he later called a spirit of radicalism, rising in his state, a spirit manifested in bills in the legislature aimed, as he put it, at impairing the property of employers. In his inaugural address as president of the state senate in 1914, he forceful plea appealed to what he later described as the conservative spirit of the people. He titled his speech how faith in massachusetts. It was an eloquent case for a potentially conservative approach to government that was slowly becoming ascendant in his mind. Nevertheless, and we must not forget this coolidges support for Progressive Social welfare, religious elation did not cease in 1914. It continued as long as he held state office. A coolidge who announced as governor in january 19, 20 that it was now time to, in his words, conserve and retrench rather than to reform, was the same governor who in the ensuing months approved a slew of new progressive legislation. This brings me in closing to the fateful year, 1919, one of the most violent and strife ridden years in all of American History. The specter of bolshevik revolution abroad and a violent strikes and criminal anarchy at home. Greatly troubled governor coolidge. As the progressive tide receded and more radical assaults on the social order emerged. The experience of combating them shook him to the core of his being. And brought his fundamentally conservative beliefs in the rule of law. And ordered freedom to center stage. Without the harrowing upheavals of 1919 and the Boston Police strike that made him a national figure. Coolidge i think, would probably be remembered today as a cautious, progressive, an incrementalist, a practitioner of what has been called the politics of prudence for many years. Progressive and conservative beliefs coexisted in his mind. But when revolutionary challenges to the american system of government erupted after world war one, his rhetoric of conservatism became more conspicuous and assertive. It was this side of coolidge that defined him ever after beginning in 1920, when americans returned to normalcy and left the progressive era behind. Thank you. Doctor, and thank you very much. Garland tucker are if you please. Today we assume that parties, Political Parties stand for certain things. And those positions are permanent. For example, we assume that the democrats are the progressive cause and the republicans are the conservatives. But history isnt like that. Political impulse is make themselves felt. But as ill try to show you this morning, its almost a historical accident. Which Party Carries the banner for which impulse . And also that events and men have played a role in that. President mckinley played a role. Theodore roosevelt played a role. Calvin coolidge played a role in their personal fates when they lived and when they died. Also played a role. Our example is the Progressive Movement from the earliest days of the republic. Jeffersons philosophy, vision of limited government. Ed competed with hamiltons advocacy of a strong, more centralized government as the country developed into a more capitalist, industrialized and urban after the civil war. Some americans began to question whether the old jeffersonian ideals were sufficient. In the 1880s, american progressivism arose in response to what some viewed as the need for a strong government, a government to protect individuals from capitalism, not a hamiltonian government to promote capitalism as one historian has written, quote, progressivism began as a series of grassroots, angry, unorganized campaigns. Back consumers and taxpayers to challenge the legitimacy of privilege and concentrated wealth and power in, quote this movement was bipartisan. There were western republican farmers. There were southern democratic tenant farmers. And there were urban Industrial Workers and immigrants who were largely democrats. In 1896, just as coolidge was graduating from amherst, the Progressive Movement burst onto the National Scene at the Democratic National convention. Progressives, many from coolidge, his family party, the republicans, unleashed a single stinging backlash against the conservatism. President grover cleveland, the progressive populist from nebraska. William Jennings Bryan, stampeded the Democratic Convention and with his famous cross of gold speech. In fact, while it cool while at college, coolidge had actually debated gold, it was a big issue at that time. Brown articulated progressive impulse for citizens to band together, strengthen government, and confront big business. Capitalism was the problem, and government was the answer. William mckinley defended conservative ism, and as a republican twice defeated bryan. Mckinley was killed by an assassin making a near unknown the president and leader of coolidges party. Theodore roosevelt. When tr won on his own in 19 four, or coolidges party the gop had become ed become the Progressive Party. The election of 1912, when coolidge was running for state offices. Progressivism led by the gop had totally transformed the american political landscape, and the idea was still political play. Jeffersons success or roosevelts successor, William Howard taft had done, is utmost to uphold progressive policies. But by 1912, taft was seen as almost a quasi conservative of the democratic opponent. Woodrow wilson squarely positioned the democrats in the progressive camp. And the Third Party Candidate. In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt was running farther to the left on the bull moose progressive platform. Yet even further to the left was eugene debs, who campaigned as an outright socialist. As William Alan White has suggested, quote, never before have we been so nearly one people with one dominant political ideal, end quote. It was indeed. 1912 was indeed a hard time to progressivism with the taft, roosevelt split within the gop in 1912. Wilson gained the white house with only 42 of the vote, but claim the progressive mandate. As historian paul johnson has written about the progressive platform of 1912, quote, the state was seen as a knight in shining armor, coming to the rescue of the poor and the weak and the victimized, and doing with objective benevolence. What otherwise would be done . Selfish laid by greedy aggregators of private wealth in quote, coolidge watched all this. By 1910, coolidge himself was and William Allen whites words werent a more than half persuaded to be a roosevelt in progress of, end quote. And with his party in massachusetts law, coolidge signed off on and even led passage of progressive laws, antitrust laws against theaters, and passage of the amendments to the constitution. Coolidge gradually began to discern the of his own growing conservatism. With this new progress activism as he prepared to assume the presidency of the Massachusetts State Senate in 1913 and then Lieutenant Governor and governor. He considered it all and doubted the progress of impulse. This was the period that he wrote to his father that it is more important to kill a bad bill than to pass a good one. Coolidge later described this observation, quote, it appeared to me that a spirit of radicalism prevailed, which, unless checked, was likely to prove very distress, active in, quote a further define the spirit of radicalism as a dangerous notion that somehow the government should be blamed should be quote and this is this quote should be blamed because everybody else was not prosperous in, quote. Its interesting to note that Theodore Roosevelt was the widely acknowledged front runner for the gop nomination in 1920. But Theodore Roosevelt died unexpectedly in 1991, and he lived. Tr would probably have won the nomination and the election and the gop could conceive ably have become the Progressive Party at this happen. This would have put coolidge in a fix. He was, by the late 19 tens as a more serious conservative, and so was his party. In 1920, the gop made a decision. It would be the party of conservatism, even if it meant seeing a splinter move off and form another Progressive Party again. Normally see a policy of common sense would rule the selection of coolidge as Vice President ial candidate was in part a response to the demand or a conservative gop in the 1920 election. Why his president nominee coolidge was articulate. Is conservative fiction convey vision with clarity quote in a free republic, a great government is the product of a great people. They will look to themselves rather than to the government for success, as in, quote, he was rejecting progressivism. In 1919, tr died. Coolidge determined he would govern. In Paul Johnsons words, as, quote, the most internally consistent and single minded of u. S. President s. End quote. The 1920s, under hardings and coolidges leadership was a decade of conservative ascendancy. But the battle with progressivism continued in both parties. In the Democratic Party, the fight during the 1920s was exceed ingly acrimonious and culminated in the deadlocked convention. Of 1924, after 103 ballots that year. The exhausted democrat nominated a compromise conservative candidate john w davis. It was interesting to note that davis like coolidge, had begun his political career as a progressive. While progressivism was gaining wide acceptance, he had ably served under wilson. But like coolidge, davis grew increasingly conservative. By 1924, davis was as conservative as coolidge, which prompted the Third Party Candidate of robert la follette. La follette was a republican, and his running mate was a democrat. That was in the splintered party of the Progressive Party. An important aspect of coolidges legacy was the realignment of american Political Parties, which has continued now for 100 years. Coolidges landslide victory in 1924 established the Republican Party as the conservative party, while the democrats became the Progressive Party. Shortly after election day, 1924, Franklin Roosevelt declared that it was, quote, for the democrats wear the livery of the conserve ative end quote. Thats the lesson. The democrats have not yet forgotten. The ongoing struggle between conservatism and progressivism still bears. Today, the imprint of Calvin Coolidge. Thank you. Thank. Thank you, garvin. We turn now to chris cox. Chris. Thank you, chris. By the time coolidge took the national stage, the progressive era had run its course. And that gave him the opportunity to assess based on real results, real world results, its successes and failures, the fundamental challenge that this presented is that progressivism in practice had diverged wildly from its aims. America, at the end of the wilson administration, was beset with race riots, runaway inflation, violent strikes and the suppression of civil liberties. In practice. Progressive initiatives such as the income tax and prohibit one were proving to have very different impacts and middle class households than progressive theory had predicted. The income tax appeared in 1913 and it began with a relatively low top rate of 6 . It applied to the most wealthy people in america with incomes of 15 million and up adjusted to todays dollars. But by 1920, when coolidge ran for Vice President , the 6 rate now applied all the way down to incomes of 20,000, adjusted to todays dollars. And the top rate had risen to 73 . There were 56 tax brackets. Prohibition, just as jarringly diverged from the ideal in practice. In reality. In foresman, it was far beyond the governments capabilities. Progressive vision had imagined that prohibition would solve a wide variety of moral ills. It reduced crime. It would reduce corruption and so on. But instead of solving existing social problems, it created new ones. Even so, as as youve heard as Lieutenant Governor and as governor, Calvin Coolidge remained open to progressive ideals in not only had an open mind to progressivism, but he supported many progressive causes, such as the rights of working people and the dignity of work. And he supported policies that today we think of as progressive, but that wilson did not support such as Voting Rights for women, as george mentioned, beginning in 1907, in the massachusetts legislature. Calvin coolidge voted in favor of womens suffrage. In fact, coolidge became president of the Massachusetts Senate when the incumbent president of the senate lost his reelection because of his opposition to womens suffrage. Unlike coolidge, Woodrow Wilson had opposed womens suffrage, even at the state level. Not only in 1907, but years later as governor of new jersey and as president. Wilson did not support womens suffrage at the state level until 1915, by which time Susan B Anthony was ten years in the grave, dying at age 86. And wilson didnt drop his opposition to the susan v anthony amendment until the final years of his second term in the white house. The fact that wilson opposed womens suffrage while coolidge supported it, highlights an important distinction. Wilsons brand of progressivism came to define the movement, but he and many of the progressives that he appointed to his cabinet and his government did not include womens rights in their definition of progressive, nor did they include civil rights for americans. Most progressives wilson among them, subscribed to academic theories that validated racial hierarchies. What historian david southern has labeled scientific racism. It was built on elaborate intellectual constructs that drew from biology, psychology, sociology, jewish genetics, eugenics. In fact, many of the most prominent progressives were instrumental in establishing jim crow in the United States. The best known progressive democrat in virginia. Woodrow wilsons birthplace was carter glass. Glass champion progressive causes such as higher regulation on banks, on corporations, on railroads. But he also led the charge for segregation and for restricting the vote to white males. Glass served as Woodrow Wilsons treasury secretary. William Jennings Bryan three times the democratic president ial nominee during the progressive era, and Woodrow Wilsons secretary of state argued in a New York Times editorial that, quote White Supremacy promotes the highest welfare of both races. Dartmouth Professor John maclean estimates that bryan was responsible for the intellectual development of, quote, tens of thousands of devout klansmen. Bryan spoke at the Democratic National convention in 1924 for nearly half an hour and opposition to a resolution condemning the ku klux klan. When he died in 1925, the ku klux klan conducted Memorial Services and cross burnings for him across the country in the cabinet, as wilsons secretary of state. Bryan offered no objection when another wilson cabinet member, albert burleson, proposed segregation for the federal bureaucracy. Wilson himself went along with the idea and defended it in public, despite the fact that prior to the wilson administration, white and black workers had worked side by side at the same desks, tables and machinery for years. The progressive journalist and publisher josephus daniels, was another White Supremacy artist in the wilson cabinet. He was wellknown for fomenting the notorious wilmington, north carolina, riots that resulted in the deaths of 60 black americans in one day. Daniels celebrate the result with a jubilee. Wilson made him the publicity chairman for his 1912 president ial campaign and then secretary of the navy at the end of the wilson administration. Race riots across the United States were in almost every case instigated by white vigilantes attacking black men and women. Newspaper at the time described the violence as the worst since the civil war at a time when unions aimed to keep black people and women out. Woodrow wilson sided with the unions when the afl threatened a Railroad Strike because railroads had hired women and conductors at equal pay. Wilson administration recommended that all women conductors be fired. In 1920, coolidge saw what wilsonian progressive ism had right. He also understood the popular mood that soundly rejected the results when he and harding were elected. It was with the greatest popular landslide in a century. But coolidge continued to sympathize those with progressive isms highest aims. If not its past methods. He always believed that government should treat the humblest individual with the same dignity as the most exalted. He denounced selfishness. He believed in return for governments protection of private property. The owners of private property had an obligation to use it in service of society. He called this his law of service, but Woodrow Wilson did not. Calvin coolidge would be labeled progressive. I would say that in a very real sense. These ideals of coolidge are the genuinely and enduringly progressive ones. I thank you, chris cox, very much. I have some questions, but at the end of the three intensely interesting presentations, and im wondering if our three authors have any reactions, thoughts, reflections prompted by those others on the panel. All right. Well, i think what the papers demonstrate, particularly the two after my own, was how various progressivism was in that period. It was a period of great flux, politically and ideological. It was a period when people jumped parties. The democrats elected a governor of historically republican massachusetts in 1910. He had been a republican, became a democrat, served three terms left, and went back to being a republican again. And there are other examples like that. Teddy roosevelt of course, being the manifestly obvious one of someone with a party of bolting that party. So the what . One of the themes that emerges, i think, from the two gentlemens papers to on my on the panel with me is that in this period, progressivism could mean Different Things at different times. And i think its right to stress that coolidges progressivism was very much for the most oriented toward improve working conditions, Health Conditions of people in the factories and i can give more examples later on, perhaps if you want some. So it was it was a kind of of of attentiveness to bringing everybody into the commonwealth of massachusetts to the common good being emphasized. And i think thats was that that was a significant progressive streak in coolidge, which helped, of course, make him electable across party lines. And thats part of the mix that i think needs to be emphasized. And i think it came through that this period of when coolidge was coming of age and then as he moved into the presidency, that the country was really sorting out what progressivism did. And it was a bipartisan question. And i guess the democrats were wrestling with it. And the republicans also and. Coolidge came up his answer, which happened to be the more or less the final answer that the republicans settled on. But it was you know, it was a real debate about what what did progressivism meant mean. And i think, as chris said, it wound up meaning some things that are fairly surprising. Now, as we look back on what we think of progressivism. Georges, some remarks immediately rang true with me when you labeled coolidge as a progressive himself, because i think he was. But a lot of this is definitional of being able to claim progress as your mantle shouldnt require your opponents to say, were against progress. But thats the way it comes across. And in fact, the difference between coolidge progressivism and let us say, wilsonian progressivism is not objectives, but means. Its the problem of the guy with the hammer who thinks that the solution is always, you know, pound the nail of. The hammer is the solution to everything. Government is the default solution to every problem in the progressive canon. Coolidge had a different approach. The other thing about georges paper that that really struck me is as ringing true is the impact that the dawn of the soviet union had on all of this, because it was, in essence, the limiting case. It showed, as it were, reductio absurdum. What happens when government is the solution to every thing . Oh, and the of liberty that that entails. Not to mention just practically speaking the loss of progress. In garlands remarks. I also immediately agreed with was your Central Point about the fluidity of Political Parties in American History and in this stretch of 100 years that is supposed to be the continuum of this development. Its just hopscotch. Oh, we dont know from decade to decade what republicans are going to be for democrats, the continuity is lacking. But it is very much a function of individuals and individual choices. Our leaders and other people, journalists certainly included in this, have enormous impacts and happenstance. As you remarked has a big impact. Somebody dying at just the right or wrong time and being replaced by someone very different. So i am not one who believes in the trend of history. Historians always like to find patterns as if, you know, you stand back far enough and its like surveying a surratt painting. You can finally see what all those little points mean. In my experience in government over 24 years in this city, the decisions of individuals matter. Most and to a degree that its almost frightening of individuals truly matter. I mean, let me tell you, my reaction to listening to these three presentations. You read about the progress of movement of change and the new nationalism and wilson versus taft versus and it all sounds at all kind of very abstract. And its up there in the air from this presentation of the decade comes across very, very different. It was a time of war, of revolution. The growth, of radicalism in america. Tremendous racial violence and. Well, there was a while there was a certain amount that kind of the usual a modicum of partizan rhetoric that were familiar with in all epics this decade that feels in many objective respects. Like recent years in the United States, they even had a pandemic that was worse than ours got worse. It did not lead to the sort of partizan polarization. In fact, people were changing parties. It did not lead to the sorts of of of of violent anger the political positioning that we see in america today. In fact, the people that ended up coming out on top in the 1920s were people that had tried to to moderate are typically the best of the new impulse is to remain open and what could have what could have been a disastrous approach plunge into anarchy. We always say, well, it couldnt have happened because it didnt. And here we are today. But when i listen to these these three accounts, it seems to me that after world war one and people came home, it was a time of tremendous disillusion. And then we had an economic depression at the beginning of the twenties. Things could have turned a lot worse and because this is a coolidge conference, i want to say Calvin Coolidge was responsible for saving everything. And and and well give will give. Well give president harding his due as well. But there was a spirit out of the times that coolidge seemed to me to embrace that was able to cope with fissures and social discord and violence that we see today that seems to be lacking in our current politics. How much or no . You can tell me on on the the only thought that came to my mind a bit different was if you read anything about the Democratic Convention. In 1924, i think you would agree that the politics were probably just as bitter, maybe even more bitter, or they. But i agree with your conclusion that a very fortunate country leadership came out of that in the election of 1924, men fought for us to visualize how significant kkk was in the country and after, as a very big factor in the Democratic Party and even had some influence in the republican and fortunately for the country, john davis, democratic nominee denounced the klan. And if davis had backed off or elected to solve that issue right. I dont know i believe that seen and coolidge later in fact the fallout from them massive but like coolidge and and davis provided very good leadership in pulling the country together. Um it could have really gone off the rails and prohibition usually divisive factor too. And davis sort of dont even. To say a further word about 1919. We usually think of the Boston Police strike is an extraordinary event as indeed it was but it was touch and go and there were many other Police Unions and other places or Police Organizations that were watching carefully to see whether the police could win before coolidge finally, you know, put a put a definitive stop to it, not only by having the National Guard come in, but by his response to samuel gompers. And so if coolidge had not been that, if he had been more conciliatory and said, well, lets lets negotiate or Something Like that, its quite possible that there would have been copycat efforts all over the place. It was tinder dry in 1919. It was the year of record numbers of strikes, including a gigantic strike in steel industry, in the coal industry and so forth. And many people were worried whether this would just lead to upheaval after upheaval. And particularly in massachusetts, which, as i mentioned, had a very heavy population of foreign born. Coolidge was very sensitive to that and most because he needed some of those votes to win, but also because i think his his vision of progressivism was at this only as a point that only came to me really yesterday thinking about it, ill quickly share maybe some will object or more to qualify. Its rather strikingly similar to Benjamin Disraelis one nation conservatism that he propounded or tory democracy in the 1860s. The idea being that britain was one, it was not to be to nations, the rich and, the poor, the haves and the have nots. Coolidge starts off that address. Have faith in massachusetts, where theres a commonwealth of massachusetts as one. And then the next line is something to effect the people of all classes, of all ranks belong together, are in it together, sense of oneness. I think of something that coolidge effectively appealed to. And again, of course he did when he was defending the rule of law in 1919. But it goes also to the point that chris was making that what if coolidge had lost the election of 1918 . That was a narrow one for him. Unusually, he usually won quite substantially. The republicans had to call off their Campaign Convention and other things during the the covid, the the the the influence of pandemic of 1918. And if coolidge had lost the election, the democrat running against him was a real demagogue who, by the way, voted for two years later. Again, these these switches of party. But anyway, if coolidge had not won, it would have been quite interesting maybe sobering to watch what would have happened in 1919 without coolidge, with his ability to communicate to the laboring and convince them that theyre part of the common wheel. All right. I think thats it goes to your point that its pretty fortunate that coolidge got elected in 1918, even though the the pandemic made it impossible for him to win with his usual majority. Yeah, if we think about the progressive era stretching from, say, 1896 to 1920, it was the worst of times for black americans and the people who wrote history for years and years and years and years just over overlook this fact. So even Woodrow Wilson, maybe especially Woodrow Wilson in a speech to womens group talking about how things used to be and how they need to have the long lens of history. And so on. I mentioned that prior to the civil war we didnt have these kinds of problems because everybody was happy. And and that may have been true. If one overlooks a rather significant share of the population who were enslaved of the same time, take them all. Look at what happened during the 19 tens, during the peak as it were, of the Progressive Movement. And it got and worse and worse until we get to the nadir and we have what everybody now agrees is, is the worst time in Race Relations in american. As i mentioned. And its really important stress this point weve had racial riots, you know, throughout our own lifetimes of the unique thing about what was going on in the progressive era is that these race riots were almost exclusively white on black violence. You know, black people were were begging to have Law Enforcement in their neighborhoods and so on. And it was just a terrible thing to see what happened when white Union Members went after black americans and st louis. What happened in chicago that Carl Sandburg wrote about what happened in this city of four weeks. Well, the president did nothing. And in this city, armed forces of Uniformed Navy personnel in front of the white house were, you know, seen pulling people off of street cars black people and beating them up and so on. It was just its its remarkable what coolidge had to remedy by the time he showed up and then he goes to Howard University and he talks about the importance of getting rid of this propaganda, of hatred and, bigotry. Nothing like that happened in the wilson administration. Just the opposite. Coolidge deserves enormous for pacifying to the extent it was possible at that time. Under those circumstances of the american public. Chris, i understand you are writing a book about wilson. Yes. Simon schuster. I heard on the Previous Panel that it is acceptable to hype your books. Yes, please. Away. Q one 2024. Its called the light withdrawn from simon and schuster. So so you have this book that youve written on Woodrow Wilson and george nash is the author of the definitive biography of Herbert Hoover. These were two and Herbert Hoover, of course, in early twenties, i. E. In the late teens early twenties, i think was probably much more famous than Calvin Coolidge after war, he organized a lot of relief efforts. I was it was we know that wilson was a progressive and weve heard a little bit about his progressivism. What do we know about specific influence that he had on coolidge . Are there particular morsels . Was would you call hoover more of a conservative . Coolidge . Was coolidge influenced by him at all . By the he called him the wonder boy. I know they didnt get along right. Okay. Well, Herbert Hoover was a republican from iowa where as a boy, he said the only democrat in town was the town drunk. And then in the progressive period, he, like Many American engineers, admired Teddy Roosevelt and his nationalism and so on, and became bull moose, progressive supporter of hoover did so he and coolidge diverged in 1912, and they didnt know each other at that time. Then hoover served. Considered himself republican. But nonpartisan war service as food administrator under wilson. And became close to wilson for a time. Wilson finally cut him off when hoover decided that it was better to accept the league with reservations and have the league go down. The treaty of psi. And so they parted. Hoover called himself at the start of 1920, an independent progressive. If he didnt like the prior night radicals of the left in the Democratic Party didnt like what he called republican reactionaries. I think he was thinking of some of the senate boss type republicans. He wasnt thinking of Coolidge Harding like hoover and appointed him as secretary of commerce. And when harding died, coolidge retained hoover and they initially got along. Hoover very helpful to coolidge. Hoover helped coolidge defeat hiram militant progressive in the 1924 California Republican primary. What johnson was challenging coolidge and hoover sided with with coolidge. Their big point of agreement was the on relief legislation. They objected to something called mcnary hogan ism legislation, and hoover actually as secretary of commerce helped write coolidges veto of at least one of those two bills. So they had points of agreement. But hoover got on coolidges nerves and it could go on and on about that and somewhat in annoyance late in the time, despite their term correctness in terms of their dealings with each other, hoover was a and coolidge called him the wonder boy and famously said, and everyone in this audience probably knows it. It was at the time of the just before the convention of 28, and someone went to coolidge, said, can you Say Something favorable about farm reform . Long hoovers lines. And coolidge said, that man has given me unsolicited advice for six years. All of it. Which was not really accurate, although there were points of tension. But i have to remind this audience, because that quotation is often used as if that encapsulates the entire hoover coolidge story. And its part of the hoover coolidge story, because hoover was more liberal, progressive, sort of an assertive individual, an engineer. He had temperance, mental as well as philosophical differences. Coolidge. Nevertheless, coolidge did, although he wasnt really fond hoover personally, he did job as a party man, head of the party, and gave hoover a raving accolade just before the election endorsement of hoover in 1928 and again in 22. Coolidge, the party man, refused to dragged back in to challenge hoover himself and said he not do it. He called hoover safe and sound in print and speech at Madison Square garden and a speech on the night before the election from North Hampton national league. Great National Radio guys all giving his preference to hoover over what he saw coming with roosevelt. So maybe in summary everyone could say hoover was somewhat to the left of coolidge, but he was to the right of roosevelt and coolidge, whatever his private feelings about some of hoovers pushing as as he saw it. Nevertheless felt that he had to keep coolidge had to prefer hoover as the head of of the ticket and in preference to the democrats both in 28 and 32. Good. Thank you. Its time to move to questions from the audience. As at the first session, were going to look for a student. In my experience of students that are associated with the coolidge president ial foundation are not shy. They dont sit in the back quietly. Theyre willing to assert themselves. So please, please assert yourselves. Ill try to to find you and please wait for the roving microphone and introduce yourself. Lets start with this young lady here and this gentleman to her left. My name is lauralee godfrey and im from portsmouth, new hampshire. My question is for, mr. Tucker. You talked about political fluidity, especially in terms of the number of political ideologies and parties that abounded during the progressive era. Do you think that is good for democratic . And do you think we should maintain our current two party system. Well i think one one of the going i think what youre maybe referring to is that the fact that in the twenties, both parties were wrestling with progress, pacifism. There was an active progressive wing in the in each party and, a conservative wing in each party, and they were seesawing back and forth. And think that was good for democracy, for america. That the parties were wrestling with that. As i said, the i was was trying to make is i think you can make an argument that the. Election of 1924 was really the beginning of of of the way weve seen the two parties divide. I agree with chris. It hasnt been a straight line, but i think every election since 1924, the republican candidate has been more conservative. The democratic candidate of variations have been different in years. But it you know, even in my lifetime back in the sixties, there was a substantial conservative wing of the party that had more in common, sometimes legislatively, with republicans. And there was a liberal republican wing that got along better with liberal democrats than with the conservative republicans. But over time, thats really changed the migration of conservatives out of the Democratic Party into the Republican Party, in the migration liberals out of the Republican Party into the Democratic Party has produced the you know, the polarized nation that weve talked some this morning. And and the polarization i think is is a tough challenge to deal with. But its its just a fact of life that thats the way the parties have developed. But i think the probably the the thing that is good for democracy, we have it today is a a middle section of the country tends to go back and forth. And republicans or conservative, you will come in and and the next election or two. Theres a swing back in the other direction. But the two parties since 1924 have generally distinguish themselves from each other at least in economic terms, and served versus liberal progressive and a you know, i think weve seen that continue. And it doesnt appear that theres less polarization now than there been. Its just a tag on, one additional thought. Thinking of republicans as conservatives, particularly days. Oh no. Requires you to embrace quite a lot of conservatism this decade. Conservatism the decade before and so on of cant possibly be the same things and. And one of the nuances that that we need to pay particular attention to is that theres more than issues that divide these ideologies. There are also solutions. So prioritizing is an important thing. It be easy to take climate changes as one example of, you know, these days to be conservative. If i read the New York Times, i have to be a climate denier. I have to assume no such thing as science and and so on. But it might be that there are solutions to these problems that are market solution. It might be that there are other approaches and so on so which issues are prioritized is to me equally important as the solutions. And once we identify issues are important. If you watch msnbc c and then you watch fox or if you listen to republican elected officials from congress on tv, from the democratic side, the republican side, almost theyre talking about completely different issues because they like issues and they dont like those issues of what really, really matters. I think is solving these problems and not making the problems just, you know, go away. And thats what is just taking us back to coolidge. Thats what coolidge was doing. He was saying, you know, theres nothing wrong. The Progressive Agenda of issues. These are important issues. But ultimately, he had Different Solutions for them. And then finally on question of is the two party system superior of what it buys, is is a way of what happens in these parliamentary systems where theres a tyranny of the weirdest party, the extremes that, you know get to broker whos in charge and and you get to have the government of of italy or israel or what have you, where they have to contend with this all the time. I prefer our system to. Thank you. Matthew tweeden from austin. By way of unseen duke. I wanted to ask almost and follow up to this question. We see a very particular of new england conservative schism today that in many ways can certainly draw ties to Calvin Coolidge. But i dont think its a stretch to say folks like governors baker, sununu and, scott, demonstrate very different tendencies from some of the more prototypical republicans you might watch on fox news today. Based on your reflections from this time period, im curious what insights you might have for the challenges a conservative movement in an era of big tent politics. Party politics that doesnt necessarily have as many of the defined features of party seen in past decades. Its a tall. Well, i as i intimated at the end of my own speech, without the trauma of 1991 and the strike, coolidge would probably be remembered as a rather typical governor of a of a new england sort of this kind of a moderate conservative with progressive inclinations and some policies. And as youve heard, i use as an incrementalist incrementalist. In other words, he wasnt going to be a left wing orator, demagogue, type of. And thats, you know, in my own state of massachusetts, in which i grew up. There are any number republicans who fall into that general category. Now, im not sure i speak so much to the present as to how one deals with high or what other issues you were raising. But it seems to me that the coolidge example can be brought forward. Coolidge was extraordinarily well prepared as a state legislator or legislator. Thats one reason he got so high in the state senate and got to be senate president. He said he knew more about the bills than anybody else and reason he objected to bad bills was all sorts of strange legislation being proposed and i think he got tired of about it and having to study up it and so on. So he he was a minimalist and that regard. So i think if were looking for analogies from then to now want to add what i would might offer would that i would like to have people who manifest competence and knowledge of issues as opposed to a sound bite of certitude. Okay so coolidge can speak to establish what the look over here gentlemen are back and. End up. Like take 5 minutes to get them. My name is sabrina maricela. Its okay. My name is syrianamerican. Im from ashland and the ashbrook center. Thank you to the panelists and thank you to the Coolidge Foundation is wonderful. My question is about im sorry i couldnt see you very well. Someone mentioned that sympathized with the highest aims of progressivism and one of them being that we should use or people use private property in service of the public. And i was wondering what exactly that looked like for coolidge. And if youll forgive me, im looking forward to the tax cuts that hell championed later. So is that more of a moral duty rather than a civic duty . What exactly would that look like . Him. Question beg your pardon, sir . I mean, well, we could all address. It is, of course, is have faith in massachusetts, which is printed in the back of one of the books that you can get right out front of the coolidge private ordering was very important. And as i think in a very nuanced way, weve heard this morning he watched the Progressive Movement experiment because really was a large scale experiment with government controls of various sorts. The government controls, especially during world war one, were just extraordinary. Even in world war two, we did not do many of the things that wilson did in world one to take control of everything in the economy at the government level and the the shortages and the rationing and, the out of the strikes and a lot of the i mean, for example, once the Government National allies, the railroads and wilsons son law, who was the treasury secretary, he got made general of the railroads to go back. This question of civil rights. Oh, now the federal government owns jim crow on rail cartwright and people said, well, we can surely the federal government is not going to continue doing what the Southern States doing and the federal government persisted. So the notion that the way to achieve the result is to put the federal government in charge was not an automatic winner for Calvin Coolidge. He thought it was important that Serve Society whether they were running a corporation or whether they were running a government. And it a moral duty of being a citizen but he did not think that ought automatically if you put this responsibility in in the hands of the government that now the problem is solved. Thank you. Thank you very much. Oh, sorry. My name is mike jacobson. I think youre all of your comments have made me reflect on how central race has been to politics for, you know, ever basically since the countrys founding and im curious dr. Nash. You talked a little bit about oneness. And i think a lot of you commented on how to create unity, how to think about solving problems rather than issues. And im wondering what you think of coolidge and what it was about him that he was able to build unity to the extent that he was. In this time of unrest. And even though he himself gets kind of wrapped up in, of course, then johnson in 1924 and the and the immigration quotas that that get established so you know partial victories here and there and maybe as a fruit for thought im wondering if of you have read the protestant theologian Ronald Deaver who in in the irony of American History wrote that you know a book about fighting communism that we should not frame the struggle against communism as that of a god fearing civilization against godless one. Because to so would overlook the flaws and dangers our within our own society and face the allure of communism in in a struggling and beset world. So i dont know that if you have reactions to that, it seems to me coolidge had some kind of sense that humility in in that that niebuhr is offering and how that might bring politics today. Yeah okay a good question. One reason coolidge believed in unity was that could see potential disunity all around him. That strike and lawrence was a nationalist celebrated strike. Some of you may know what was called the bread and roses strike. And so he was able and on quiet. So serious, conciliatory way to to reach some kind of an outcome was not revolutionary in the sense of violence on the streets and so on. I think one of the keys to coolidge a success was that he was not a boston prominent type of republican. By that i mean Senator Henry Cabot Lodge was the domineering, dominating force in the party. But coolidge was close to a state. The other u. S. Senator and of his time, murray crane, from up in the western part of the state coolidges region. And crane became a kind of i wouldnt say a mentor or but a kind of a patron of coolidge in the early teens, particularly. And and crane, by the way, was a very philanthropically minded individual. Coolidge thought world of him. He wrote the introduction, a little biography of crane that was published in 1926, just two pages. Its he just thinks very highly of crane. I think part of the key to coolidges success was that he was not a wealthy man. He came from kind of rural, middle class background, yeoman type background, but he had to get elected in a town initially in northampton, which had a lot of irish votes, and he somehow hit it off with a man named james lucey, who was a shoe keeper, as i recall. And and and who had kind of a little fan club Network Irish democrats and lucey liked coolidge and told his friends to, vote for coolidge. And that seems to have made the margin for coolidges victory once, twice. So coolidge had this of rapport partly, i think, because he was so different, he was not condescending, he was not bloviating. He was not out for being performative to use the word that came up earlier. And i think a lot of people, including of fair numbers of ethnic minded people, ethnic democrats, by disposition, a saw in coolidge, a man who was serious, conscientious and honest and not just one more politician. And certainly not someone who was looking down on them as newcomers. So coolidge had that rapport, which partly i think comes from his background and in developed philosophy that he had that everybody has to be included, including the the scrub made. He he he got through or saw through a a bill to have a minimum wage for women and various other things and messages always attentive to that side and not against but wealth has its service obligations. If you have that success. So he had that ability to to in some way its almost uncanny connect with the with that part of the electorate so think thats an important aspect of him to keep in mind as we apply lessons we may today. Im going to make room for one final question before adjourn lunch and ill go right to this. Thank you. My name is audrey carmena and im from california, though maybe i should move to d. C. At this point. And i just wanted to ask doctor nash really quickly, were seeing again, rise of communism in popularity, just in Popular Culture as well as in politics. How do we defend the flawed but fundamentally good vision of democracy and its really against the alluring specter of communism . Coolidge attempted to do that in 1919 and 20 and in the early twenties by education nation. And he even wrote some articles that will sound rather controversial if you read them today in a magazine called the delineate or delineate or in he argued that one thing that has to be done for all these foreign born people coming in who are susceptible to radical ideologies is to educate them and even sort americanism type history should American History should be put into foreign translation to reach these people. So thats a quick answer. And i hope someone else can add to what ive just said. Education for coolidge was highly important. That period just just one comment that maybe to that and some of the other discussion here i think to me the defining part of coolidges legacy was his policy and what he really worked out with secretary mellon and seen in his tax policies. But he was he was relentless in pursuing the decrease of government involvement. But i think the key to his success. Yes. Was that he was able to somehow explain to the american people. And i think he was able to explain it because honestly believed it, that he thought it was a moral issue to reduce the size of government. Theres a theres a an interesting editorial from the Washington Post in reaction to one of coolidges state, the Union Addresses said the post was kind of marveling, said most politicians dont talk about Economic Issues or moral terms or reducing the size of government in terms of moral terms. But thats how coolidge saw and how he explained it. And he was able to get that point across that, as he said, he was not trying to save money. But he was trying to save people. He was trying to reduce the imprint of the federal government and give people more of an Economic Opportunity on their own. And he was able to that message across. Ladies and gentlemen, met, dinner is going to give us our instructions for lunch, which follows hopefully for please join me in giving a warm to our three wonderful people