Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-03
Coolidge, the Man.

During the presidential campaign OF
1924 when certain timorouS souls
thought that the Republican party
e might go down IN ignominious defeat
. because of Teapot Dome. that cynical
wit. Senator George H. Moses, Invested
himself of an alliterative aphorism
1.-The principal asset OF the Republican
party said the sage of New Hamp-
shire, lis the calm and cautious Chris
tian character of Calvin Coolidge"
1t was enough. Ignoring the mall
feasance in Office of certain highly
placed members of the preceding Re-
publican administration. the people
massed at the polls and by colossal
majority gave Calvin Coolidge vote of
confidence. 1t was confidence in Cool
idge. the man, that was registered-be-
lief in the impregnable integrity of the
a first New Highlander to enter The White
o House in hundred years. Issues were
ignored. The electorate convinced itself
that amid the encircling gloom of scan-
? dial at Washington, a personality of
experimentation was the need of the
hour.
His enemies had shrieked from the
political house tops that Mr. Coolidge,
as Vice President. had sat in the Hard
, ing cabinet meetings while TEAPOT
Dome was being stolen. But the ceun-
%y,, - 4La ,1olle II, Noro,,Iar 1904 n, ~
whelminsly rejected the imputation that
the Vermor1ter was an accessory before
the fact It elected him President be-
: cause it believed he was not an accom-
-rplice in any of the irregularities of the
Harding epoch, and especially because
it was absolutely certain that the name
of Calvin Coolidge could not ever con-
ceivably be associated with maladmin-
istration of Government
Men sometimes call Calvin Coolidgt
an accident" They say that the Bos
!. ton police strike pitchforked him int>
3, fame. They declare that his nomins-
~tion for the vice presidency at Chicago
in 1920 was ''f1uke" And finally they
charge that the fate that took Warren
. G. Harding in 1923 was the greatest
accident Of ALL Circumstances did
: conspire fortuitously in Calvin Cool
-lidge's career But the acid test Of a
man or statesman is his conduct amid
ssthe conditions into which accident or
luck or fate plunges him.
By that standard judged, who will
deny that the thirtieth President Of the
United States has given a creditable
account Of himself in every station of
responsibility in which he found him
self? Place and power did not dazzle
him nor obscure his vision. Neither did
they tempt him into Utopian excursions
in the field of statecraft To others he
left rainbow chasing and sky-gazing.
Calvin Coolidge preferred to keep his
feet on the ground and his eyes
, straight ahead.
a In an age of bombast he was invin-
''ciblS thrifty in conversation. He deliv-
cred many addresses, but almost with
. out exception they we're in response to
opportunities which could not be de-
MED. The American people to a consid-
serable extent do not choose President.
They elect speechmaker and expect
him TO comport himself accordingly.
Could he have had his way, Mr.. Cool
~idge undoubtedly would have preferred
. to run strictly true to the form exem-
plifled by his popular sobriouet of
Silent Cal"
; He has not been what We call a
brilliant President Calvin Coolidge
was more than that He was a saga
,cious President. He was quintessential-
ly the man for his time. His regimen
~ OF simple living was of itself boon.
There are still millions Of old-fashioned
Americans who look upon their Presi-
dent as the symbol of the Republic and
OF its basic virtues.
Such man is the quaint. whimsical.
? wise, quiet New England gentleman who
= now takes leave of the White House.
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