Calvin Coolidge: A Documentary Biography - Paperback

by David Pietrusza (Author)

A Documentary Biography of America's Thirtieth President Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge: A Documentary Biography reveals the "album version" of President Calvin Coolidge, featuring extended excerpts and, indeed, often the entire texts of major Coolidge addresses-as well as presenting a host of other illuminating documents, authored both by or about America's vastly underrated thirtieth president. Calvin Coolidge: A Documentary Biography shines a searchlight on Silent Cal Coolidge's world and worldview as no previous book ever has.

It's all here:

• The opposites-attract love story of taciturn Cal Coolidge and his outgoing wife Grace Goodhue Coolidge.
• Jack Kennedy had his Irish Mafia, Jimmy Carter had his Georgia Mafia. The story of Frank Stearns, Dwight Morrow, and Calvin Coolidge's "Amherst Mafia."
• Phenomenal vote getter Coolidge won more offices than any other president. The secret of how this painfully shy man did it. His strong appeal to Democrats.
• The 1919 Boston Police Strike. How a city under siege ultimately makes Calvin Coolidge president.
• How a runaway 1920 GOP convention stampedes to nominate Coolidge for the vice-presidency.
• Unbelievable tragedy visits in July 1924 as Calvin Coolidge stands to become president in his own right--the death of his son Cal Jr.
• The Coolidge presidency: a partnership of three remarkable figures: Coolidge, Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, and Budget Director Herbert Lord.
• Coolidge vs. the Klan: reaching out to embattled minorities: Jews, blacks, Catholics.
• The gutsy Coolidge vetoes.
• How Coolidge chose "not to run" in 1928.

Each entry also includes a revealing explanatory introduction by noted Coolidge scholar and award-winning author David Pietrusza.

The book is further augmented by:

• a Calvin Coolidge fact sheet.
• a comprehensive Coolidge bibliography.
• a detailed Coolidge time line.
• a photo insert plus illustrations throughout the text.
• an essay detailing recently discovered facts regarding the fabled Coolidge "Persistence" quote.

In addition to numerous key speeches and texts from Coolidge himself, the volume includes contemporary readings from:

• Bruce Barton
• The Boston Herald
• Marion Leroy Burton
• First Lady Grace Goodhue Coolidge
• Vice President Charles G. Dawes
• Frederick H. Gillett
• Al Jolson
• Walter Lippmann
• Judge Wallace McCamant
• Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon
• Dwight W. Morrow
• Alexandra Carlisle Pfeiffer
• H. I. Phillips
• The Pittsburgh Courier
• Theodore Roosevelt
• C. Bascom Slemp
• Frank W. Stearns
• R. M. Washburn

PRAISE FOR DAVID PIETRUSZA'S "SILENT CAL'S ALMANACK"
"Calvin Coolidge was one of the greatest presidents of the 20th century and is certainly the most underrated. This book, compiled by one of my favorite historians, will give readers a full appreciation of why Silent Cal's wisdom shines like a beacon through the fog of historical amnesia."
-Jonah Goldberg, author of Liberal Fascism

"an authority on the 1920s and [Calvin] Coolidge . . . David Pietrusza has brought Coolidge back to life with his volumes about the president . . ."
-Amity Shlaes

Author Biography

David Pietrusza is the editor of "Silent Cal's Almanack: The Homespun Wit and Wisdom of Vermont's Calvin Coolidge" and "Calvin Coolidge on The Founders." He is also the award-winning author of "1920: The Year of the Six Presidents," "1960: LBJ vs JFK vs Nixon," "1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America," and "Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius who Fixed the 1919 World Series." Pietrusza has served on both the national advisory board and the board of directors of the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation. He has appeared on such media outlets as NPR, The Fox News Channel, C-SPAN, C-SPAN BookTV including "In Depth"), C-SPAN American History TV, The History Channel ("The Untilmate Guide to the Presidents"), GBTV/The Blaze, ESPN, ESPN Classic, and the Fox Sports Channel. He has served as regular panelist on FoxNews.com Live. Winner of both the CASEY and F.C. Lane Awards, Pietrusza has authored or edited over three dozen books. His Rothstein earned him an Edgar Award nomination. Kirkus Reviews honored his 1920 as one of its "Best Books of 2007." He has appeared on such media outlets as NPR, The Fox News Channel, C-SPAN, C-SPAN BookTV, C-SPAN American History TV, The History Channel, GBTV/The Blaze, ESPN, ESPN Classic, and the Fox Sports Channel. He has served as regular panelist on FoxNews.com Live. As a noted presidential scholar, Pietrusza has been selected to serve on the Siena College Research Institute (SRI) Survey of United States Presidents, along with such historians as David McCullough, Douglas Brinkley, Paul Johnson, William Leuchtenberg, Ted Morgan, Thomas Fleming, Joseph Persico, and Harold Holzer. Along with such notable historians as Richard Norton Smith, Amity Shlaes, and Michael Kazin, he has been featured on C-SPAN's "The Contenders" series. Both his CASEY Award-winning Judge and Jury and his Edgar Award finalist Rothstein shattered conventional thinking and accepted historical models. "1920" has been part of the syllabus for the course "Congress, The Presidency & 21st Century Media" offered by C-SPAN, The Cable Center and the University of Denver. His talk on "Silent Cal's Almanack" is included in the curriculum for the C-SPAN Classroom initiative.