Amity Shlaes

but not shy when he needed to be bold or when he needed to speak up, as in the Boston police strike. Not a shy move, not a compromising move. He didn't like to talk a lot. That was more out of political savvy. You don't have to deliver what you don't promise. And he was in cutting mode as president and also, by the way, as governor.

So the more you talk with someone, the more likely you are to say yes to that person. Everyone knows that. So he would cut short his audiences. But there is a theater to Coolidge. Mrs. Coolidge played the extrovert. She was an extrovert. She was a teacher of the deaf. She was lovely. And he played Silent Cow. It was their show, but mostly only that in press conferences.

So the more you talk with someone, the more likely you are to say yes to that person. Everyone knows that. So he would cut short his audiences. But there is a theater to Coolidge. Mrs. Coolidge played the extrovert. She was an extrovert. She was a teacher of the deaf. She was lovely. And he played Silent Cow. It was their show, but mostly only that in press conferences.

So the more you talk with someone, the more likely you are to say yes to that person. Everyone knows that. So he would cut short his audiences. But there is a theater to Coolidge. Mrs. Coolidge played the extrovert. She was an extrovert. She was a teacher of the deaf. She was lovely. And he played Silent Cow. It was their show, but mostly only that in press conferences.

Coolidge spoke quite a bit. And if you go to the Coolidge Foundation website, we've digitized the press conferences. He yammers on. Sometimes it's a bit like a Fed chairman. He's yet talking, but not saying too much. But because he doesn't want to get in trouble or overstep, but he talked all the time. These press conferences were weekly, sometimes more.

Coolidge spoke quite a bit. And if you go to the Coolidge Foundation website, we've digitized the press conferences. He yammers on. Sometimes it's a bit like a Fed chairman. He's yet talking, but not saying too much. But because he doesn't want to get in trouble or overstep, but he talked all the time. These press conferences were weekly, sometimes more.

Coolidge spoke quite a bit. And if you go to the Coolidge Foundation website, we've digitized the press conferences. He yammers on. Sometimes it's a bit like a Fed chairman. He's yet talking, but not saying too much. But because he doesn't want to get in trouble or overstep, but he talked all the time. These press conferences were weekly, sometimes more.

He gave plenty of speeches and the speeches became his principal work as the presidency went on because he wanted to explain and shore up his legacy of restrained government.

He gave plenty of speeches and the speeches became his principal work as the presidency went on because he wanted to explain and shore up his legacy of restrained government.

He gave plenty of speeches and the speeches became his principal work as the presidency went on because he wanted to explain and shore up his legacy of restrained government.

It was the death of his son, Calvin Jr. It was kind of unexpected, totally unexpected, in fact. And one week, this 16-year-old is playing tennis, and the next week he dies. This is the tragedy of life before antibiotics. An infection one week can be death the next, and we can only imagine it. We antibiotic era people. Calvin got a blister playing tennis. He was about 16.

It was the death of his son, Calvin Jr. It was kind of unexpected, totally unexpected, in fact. And one week, this 16-year-old is playing tennis, and the next week he dies. This is the tragedy of life before antibiotics. An infection one week can be death the next, and we can only imagine it. We antibiotic era people. Calvin got a blister playing tennis. He was about 16.

It was the death of his son, Calvin Jr. It was kind of unexpected, totally unexpected, in fact. And one week, this 16-year-old is playing tennis, and the next week he dies. This is the tragedy of life before antibiotics. An infection one week can be death the next, and we can only imagine it. We antibiotic era people. Calvin got a blister playing tennis. He was about 16.

And the boy didn't complain about it. It went septic throughout his system and he died. So the Coolidges just didn't expect this. And Calvin Jr. was also the happier of the two sons of the Coolidges, the luck child, the one who understood politics better. Young Calvin wrote a poem, an ironic poem, about success and the hypocrisy of people's praise when one is in the public eye.

And the boy didn't complain about it. It went septic throughout his system and he died. So the Coolidges just didn't expect this. And Calvin Jr. was also the happier of the two sons of the Coolidges, the luck child, the one who understood politics better. Young Calvin wrote a poem, an ironic poem, about success and the hypocrisy of people's praise when one is in the public eye.

And the boy didn't complain about it. It went septic throughout his system and he died. So the Coolidges just didn't expect this. And Calvin Jr. was also the happier of the two sons of the Coolidges, the luck child, the one who understood politics better. Young Calvin wrote a poem, an ironic poem, about success and the hypocrisy of people's praise when one is in the public eye.

That's in some articles I've written. He was a very perceptive young man. He's the one who understood his father, I think, better. very young age, right? These were boys. His brother was only a bit older, just getting ready to start at Amherst, and he was gone. So the Coolidge's reeled, and this was also an election year, 1924.

That's in some articles I've written. He was a very perceptive young man. He's the one who understood his father, I think, better. very young age, right? These were boys. His brother was only a bit older, just getting ready to start at Amherst, and he was gone. So the Coolidge's reeled, and this was also an election year, 1924.

That's in some articles I've written. He was a very perceptive young man. He's the one who understood his father, I think, better. very young age, right? These were boys. His brother was only a bit older, just getting ready to start at Amherst, and he was gone. So the Coolidge's reeled, and this was also an election year, 1924.

In fact, I think all Americans were sympathetic when word of the death of Calvin Jr. came to the Democratic National Convention, which was a rowdy, difficult event with many, many ballots, much unhappiness, the Ku Klux Klan, fistfights. All of a sudden, when that word came, the whole hall that was the old Madison Square Garden fell silent.