The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge

The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge is an autobiography written by former United States President Calvin Coolidge.  It was published in 1929, shortly after Coolidge left office.

Coolidge's autobiography has about 45,000 words, unusually short for the time. It was praised by Ray Long (editor of Cosmopolitan magazine) for describing the complete story of Coolidge's life and "the complete story of our country during the dramatic years of this generation." Coolidge was one of the first U.S. Presidents to write and publish an autobiography. Coolidge's autobiography talks about all of the important moments in his life, such as his childhood and youth, Governorship, Presidency, son's death, and retirement. It was criticized by some for being too obvious and not giving any new information that was previously unknown to the public. However, this trait of the autobiography was not that surprising as no one expected Coolidge to reveal some private government information and secrets in his autobiography (Coolidge was a very private man, despite his happy-going and cheerful public personality image). However, it was also praised for its relative shortness, considering that most autobiographies of the time were much longer. Coolidge's autobiography, in contrast, was about half the size of a novel. One of the most important moments in the book was Coolidge's belief that President Warren Harding would recover (in 1923) and then his surprise and inauguration following Harding's death.

The Coolidge autobiography was very popular when it was published, which is seen in the large amount of fan mail that Coolidge got afterwards and by the fact that many newspapers were willing to publish parts of the autobiography so that much more Americans could buy it and view it. Coolidge said that he hoped that his autobiography might guide and encourage the young men and women of America.

Related pages
List of United States Presidential autobiographies

References

Category:1929 books
Category:American autobiographies
Category:Calvin Coolidge