Calvin Coolidge: Neither a Traditional President nor a Modern One

By Donald Kimball

American Presidency

Dr. Andrew Kauffmann

December 4, 2014

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Some Presidents have seemed to interpret [Executive Power] as an authorization to take any action which the Constitution, or perhaps the law, does not specifically prohibit.

Others have considered that their powers extended only to such acts as were specifically

authorized by the Constitution and the statutes. This has always seemed to me to be a

hypothetical question, which it would be idle to attempt to determine in advance. It would

appear to be the better practice to wait to decide each question on its merits as it

arises.1

President Calvin Coolidge

The office of the president of the United States is an intriguing mix of symbolism, power,

and limitations this has caused much study and scrutiny of its use. As time has progressed,

there has been a generally noted phenomenon of the executive office gaining more power.

Divided into two major periods, the power shifts have been described as the traditional and the

modern presidency, the former taking place up until the turn of the 20th century, with the latter

describing the years following 1900. In analyzing presidents and their uses of the office, this

shift is generally followed, aside from one notable exception: Calvin Coolidge. Analyzing the

key, defining features of the modern presidency in relation to President Coolidge and his time in

the office, this paper aims to prove that Coolidge fits into neither traditional nor modern neatly.

In actuality, President Coolidge was traditional in his uses of power and formal executive office

tasks, but fits in the modern presidency when it comes to adapting to the new age of rhetoric and

personality.

First, the traditional and modern presidencies must be properly distinguished and broken

into measurable categories. As a general rule, the traditional presidency uses less executive

authority in order to achieve goals, relying systematically on other branches to do their specific

1 Coolidge, Calvin. "Presidential Duties." In The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, 198-99. Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1929.

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roles in the constitution and sticking mainly to duties outlined therein.2 For the sake of clarity, it

will be broken down into traceable categories: executive authority, legislative agenda, and

rhetoric. Under executive authority, this will focus on uses of appointments & executive orders.

For executive orders, this will rely less on numbers than content, and as such the traditional

presidency was more likely to use executive orders as a means to accomplish laws already

passed by congress or to achieve ceremonial ends. Contrastingly, the modern presidency has

seen an increasing reach in the scope of policy it affects, which has thus even caused issues of

transparency and ethics due to their breadth.3 Second, the legislative agenda is a phenomenon

started by Theodore Roosevelt, continued through Woodrow Wilson, and solidified by Franklin

Delano Roosevelt.4 It simply didnt exist as a part of the traditional presidency, as there was no

constitutional requirement for the president to involve himself in the content of the legislature.

Not only is this a reflection on the roles of each branch, but also an analysis on the role of the

state vs. federal government dynamic, with traditional lending more responsibility to states.

Lastly, the idea of rhetoric has vastly changed between the traditional and modern presidencies

in everything from nominally lesser speeches to the state of the union. From making broad

appeals to the public on behalf of a personal presidency to outlaying their vision for America in

the state of the union, the modern presidency has taken speech making to unprecedented levels.5

Traditional presidents were less focused on policy suggestions, and used the speeches as a way to

2 Tulis, Jeffrey K. The Rhetorical Presidency. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987. 3 Roberts, Robert. "History of the Legalization of Executive Branch Ethics Regulation: Implications for the Management of Public Integrity."Public Integrity 9, no. 4 (2007): 313-32. 4 Pfiffner, J. P. "The President's Legislative Agenda." The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 499, no. 1 (1988): 22-35. 5 Teten, Ryan Lee. The Evolutionary Rhetorical Presidency: Tracing the Changes in Presidential Address and Power. New York: Peter Lang, 2011.

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update the populace on the welfare of the state. With these differences in mind, an examination

of Calvin Coolidges time in the white house will show that while some of the developments of

the age give the appearance of his encouraging the development of the modern presidency, it is

not quite so simple as putting him in one category.

The first area to examine is executive authority used by Calvin Coolidge. Again, with the

modern presidency leaning toward heavy usage of power of the office, Coolidge seems to be in

contention as a modern president when hard data is analyzed to date he has the third highest

number of executive orders issued.6 Analysis on what these orders were (or werent) as well as

other uses of power that he did or did not exert are necessary, however, before categorizing him

in this section. Initially, as he first came into office after President Harding passed away, he kept

most of the appointments made by Harding.7 Not only is this an unusual move, even for a Vice-

President inheriting office mid-term, but a very unlikely one in light of the rampant scandals of

the Harding administration.8 Rather than taking over the Whitehouse, Coolidge thought it was

his duty to continue what Harding started, and this included leaving his priorities and

appointments in place.9 Instead of using this opportunity to magnify his ideals and utilize the

bully pulpit, Coolidge sought to wait until his own election before making administration

changes. Next, looking at executive orders, again we come across the seemingly damning

6 "Executive Orders Disposition Tables Index." National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed December 01, 2014. http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-orders/disposition.html. 7 Shlaes, Amity. Coolidge. New York: Harper, 2013. 8Cherny, Robert. "Graft and Oil: How Teapot Dome Became the Greatest Political Scandal of Its Time." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Accessed November 30, 2014. http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/roaring-twenties/essays/graft-and-oil-how-teapot-dome-became-greatest-political-scand. 9 Shlaes, Coolidge, 253.

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evidence of Coolidges 1,203 orders, quite hefty in comparison to the meager 291 of Bush or 194

(to date) of Obama. Yet the scope of these orders are much different, even contrasting kinds of

orders made by presidents a few years earlier. Among his orders are land zoning orders,10

essentially formally handing over land which the legislature already approved, ceremonial

issuances,11 and government radio frequency regulation12 (perhaps the most contentious of any).

All of these categories are within smaller policy circles than most executive orders by modern

presidents, most seeking to accomplish the end of an existing law. Even examining his

confidential regulation of government radio frequencies can show that comparative to executive

orders from President Wilson of regulating sales of prohibition, punishing deportees, or fixing

the interest rate on currency, Coolidge has a much more restrained use of the power. Lastly,

while President Coolidge was mostly focused on domestic issues, he did have a very distinct

foreign policy which relied mostly on restraint. This focus came from not only wanting to avoid

war, but the economic repercussions of military action. Coolidge appointed more ambassadors

and diplomats and sought to cause multilateral reduction of naval forces,13 although this was met

with little success. He sought to maintain economic ties in the world without moving troops as

much as necessary, only keeping some peacekeeping troops to secure shipments in Nicaragua.14

Though his move of sending troops in was a move in the modern direction, their former

presence, the mild role they played, the propriety over the canal we had, as well as his alerting

10 Exec. Order No. 3984, 3 C.F.R. (1924). 11 Exec. Order No. 3885, 3 C.F.R. (1923). 12 Exec. Order No. 4846-A, 3 C.F.R. (1928). 13 Evans, David C., and Mark R. Peattie. Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997. 14 Musicant, Ivan. The Banana Wars: A History of United States Military Intervention in Latin America from the Spanish-American War to the Invasion of Panama. New York: Macmillan, 1990.

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congress shows that this is not unprecedented nor a radical shift. At most, this is an inclination

toward how conflicts arise in the modern era and the gradual evolution of the executive office.

With all of these facets of executive authority considered, this area seems to lean in the area of

Coolidge staying within the mold of traditional presidents. Though signs of modernity leak, such

as number of executive orders or some troop movement, in the bigger picture Coolidge holds a

much more restrained presidency than most moderns.

In terms of the next category, legislative agenda, Coolidge is truly a mixed bag. On one

hand, he never used the presidency as a means to push specific policy through congress, but he

had an agenda the budget. Just two years before his entrance into the office, Congress passed

the Budget Accounting Act of 1921, requiring the president to submit a yearly budget before

congress. Now while this was mandated, Coolidge attacked the budget with a zeal so strong that

he slashed enough departments and expenditures to turn the deficit into a profit.15 In a sense,

Coolidge actually did have a legislative agenda: to stop legislation. Counting both traditional and

pocket vetoes, Coolidge used the 9th most of any U.S. president, a testament to his hardline

stance against spending and government involvement.16 Rampant use of the veto could be put

into either modern or traditional camp, as it is constitutionally authorized, but generally it is seen

more as a use of executive authority and leans into the modern category. Yet, not only was he

seeking to keep the budget, but the cause of many of his vetoes was so that the federal

government didnt reach into further corners of local and state governments. This anti-agenda

15 Coolidge, Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, 183. 16 Gerhard Peters. "Presidential Vetoes." The American Presidency Project. Ed. John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California. 1999-2014. Accessed November 30, 2014: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/vetoes.php.

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didnt form from a passionless, disinterested lack of stance for policy, but was a conscious

choice to do less in the White House and defer power to state governments. Indeed, it can be

seen through his time as Massachusetts governor that he had strong stances on many contentious

issues and acted upon those: safety regulations for industrial workers, nullification of child labor,

supported womens suffrage, and weaned out racism as possible.17 Though he never strictly

identified in the progressive wing of the Republican Party, he had admired and been inspired by

President Teddy Roosevelt, and this showed as he did enact progressive measures, such as the

listed acts as governor.18 Yet none of this was made apparent in his use of the presidency, as he

neither proposed a direct agenda for to congress enact such measures nor pushed them through

executive orders. Perhaps the most poignant emphasis he belayed was in his state of the union,

questioning lynching and encouraging congress to punish lynching.19 Even so, this could hardly

be qualified as progressing the presidency in the direction of modernity. In evaluating Coolidge

from the holistic perspective regarding legislative agenda, pinning him down into one camp is

incredibly difficult. His aggressive vetoes and strict discipline to the budget move him in the

direction of modernity, albeit an uncommon form of modernity, but an increase in power. Yet his

lack of strong emphasis on legislation, especially in contrast with his actions taken as governor,

lead one to see a more refrained, traditional streak in Coolidge. Such competing actions can only

17 Coolidge, Calvin. Have Faith in Massachusetts; a Collection of Speeches and Messages. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1919. 18 Shlaes, Coolidge, 121. 19 Coolidge, Calvin. "Calvin Coolidge's State of the Union." Speech, State of the Union, U.S. Senate Chamber, Washington D.C., December 6, 1923.

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lead to a mixed result for whether or not this category leaves Coolidge in the older or newer

camp.

Among the three categories, rhetoric is possibly the most surprising the infamous

Silent Cal actually progressed this in the direction of modernity, albeit sometimes without

meaning to do so. His quiet, few worded persona actually aided his speechmaking capabilities,

often surprising peers and listeners with his poignant, clear message.20 Though stylistically he

was less of a modern president in actual wording, he symbolically became a unifying figure

leading the country out of Hardings tragic death, as well as moving speechmaking as more

publically accessible.21 In part, this was due to the advent of the radio, but it was President

Coolidge who insisted on publically broadcasting the speech. In doing so, he moved the federal

government into a position to make itself relevant to every citizen as well as move the president

to be more accessible to them. Of course, in the consistently inconsistent style of Coolidge, his

speeches themselves were very traditional in form and factor. He shied away from using his

position as the bully pulpit, and in analyzing some of his given speeches its seen contrasting the

modern variations. In one speech, for instance, Coolidge calls out A government which lays

taxes on the people not required by urgent public necessity and sound public policy is not a

protector of liberty, but an instrument of tyranny, and this type of rhetoric sums the speech

exceptionally.22 Note the lack of personal reference, and a clear message and idea laid out calling

20 Buckley, Kerry W. "A President for the "Great Silent Majority": Bruce Barton's Construction of Calvin Coolidge." The New England Quarterly 76, no. 4 (December 01, 2003): 593-626. Accessed December 02, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/1559844?ref=no-x-route:3dddb881e697065d46e8da33e48471dc. 21 Ibid. 22 Coolidge, Calvin. "Speech at Meeting of the Business Organization of the Government." Speech, Business Organization Meeting, Memorial Continental Hall, Washington D.C., June 30, 1924.

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for a restraint on the part of the government, all features of traditional speeches. This comes in

sharp contrast with FDRs famous speech nearly ten years later, wherein he takes a more

personal stance:

We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline, because it makes

possible a leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes

will bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed

strife. With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people

dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.23

This self-referential, emotional appeal is typical of the modern presidents, and strikingly absent

from Coolidge. Even so, his continued use of the speech as an effective means of communication

helped add to the climate of increased presidential symbolism in the public eye. Not only was

this fed by his speech giving (despite the content), but also in his amiability with the press. Even

as he didnt offer many words, he never turned down a photo op, providing the country with

ample pictures of him smiling, wearing a funny costume or striking a silly pose.24 He thought it

was important that the people see the humanity of the president, and these photos were a quick

and easy way to send a friendly message to the U.S. citizens. In turn, this also built friendly

relations between him and the press, leading to very favorable news reports.25 The unprecedented

familiarity and favorability the president had with the press was recognized by media outlets,

even those which saw no favor with his administration.26 In a manner similar to Theodore

Roosevelt, Coolidge answered questions at length with the media, giving them plenty, if brief, of

23 Roosevelt, Franklin D. "President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Inauguration Speech." Speech, FDR's First Inauguration, Washington D.C., March 4, 1933. 24 Buckley, A President for the Great Silent Majority, 620. 25 Blair, John L. "Coolidge the Image-Maker: The President and the Press, 1923-1929." The New England Quarterly 46, no. 4 (December 01, 1973): 499-522. Accessed December 02, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/364812?ref=no-x-route:3be67fd5adce1d9cea58a7a940a42394. 26 T.R.B. The New Republic 43 (June 17, 1925): 98. Accessed December 2, 2014. JSTOR.

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responses. His friendliness to the press helped bring his public image to soar through new heights

of approval ratings, a stark contrast from former Vice-President to Presidents.27 Once more,

Coolidge upsets the neat order of traditional and modern categorization in terms of rhetoric.

Formally, he doesnt move speech making in a modern direction, yet moves the art of speech

giving to be much more public through radio broadcast. His affinity for the press, however, is

quite enough to consider this category of rhetoric leaning in the modern direction. Partially

through technology and partially through resolve, Coolidge pushed presidential communication

to be much more accessible to the people, even if his style wasnt quite the personal aura evoked

by the modern presidents.

With an overview of all three categories, Coolidge plants himself right in the middle of

traditional and modern aspects of both in everything he did, action and inaction. In executive

authority he was mostly traditional, in legislative agenda he was completely mixed, and in

rhetoric he was mostly modern. Even if the categories of traditional and modern presidencies are

viewed skeptically, Coolidge manages to present such a duo natured approach to his presidency

that he separates himself from his fellow presidents by most other standards too. This anomaly

fits the somewhat contradictory nature of Coolidge, being quiet and few worded, yet using

speeches powerfully and being chatty with the press. Ultimately Coolidge has been placed into

extreme camps by history, and unfairly so his immense popularity during his terms faded after

the Great Depression, and obscurity has taken its place. Those which do write about him usually

27 Cornwell, Jr. Elmer E. "Coolidge and Presidential Leadership." Public Opinion Quarterly 21, no. 2 (1957): 265. doi:10.1086/266712.

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see one aspect of the three listed: mostly see passive, non-aggressive executive, some see the

aggressive budget hawk, and still others see the modern communicator. Instead of painting

contradictory narratives, they paint the full picture of the complicated presidency of Calvin

Coolidge, not the do nothing term it is often dismissed as. With all perspectives considered, it

is impossible to neatly fit him into the traditional category nor in the modern. In fact,

categorizing him into a new group may be desirable, but highly improbable due to the

uniqueness of his nuances. This complexity warrants a revaluation in the modern mind of his

presidency, and an immediate stop of the instant categorization of the 30th president of the

United States.

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Works Cited

T. R. B. The New Republic 43 (June 17, 1925): 98. Accessed December 2, 2014. JSTOR.

Blair, John L. "Coolidge the Image-Maker: The President and the Press, 1923-1929." The New England

Quarterly 46, no. 4 (December 01, 1973): 499-522. Accessed December 02, 2014.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/364812?ref=no-x-

route:3be67fd5adce1d9cea58a7a940a42394.

Buckley, Kerry W. "A President for the "Great Silent Majority": Bruce Barton's Construction of Calvin

Coolidge." The New England Quarterly 76, no. 4 (December 01, 2003): 593-626. Accessed

December 02, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/1559844?ref=no-x-

route:3dddb881e697065d46e8da33e48471dc.

The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, 201-317 (1921).

Cherny, Robert. "Graft and Oil: How Teapot Dome Became the Greatest Political Scandal of Its Time."

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Accessed November 30, 2014.

http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/roaring-twenties/essays/graft-and-oil-how-teapot-

dome-became-greatest-political-scand.

Coolidge, Calvin. "Calvin Coolidge's State of the Union." Speech, State of the Union, U.S. Senate

Chamber, Washington D.C., December 6, 1923.

Coolidge, Calvin. Have Faith in Massachusetts; a Collection of Speeches and Messages. Boston:

Houghton Mifflin, 1919.

Coolidge, Calvin. "Presidential Duties." In The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge, 198-99.

Cosmopolitan Book Corporation, 1929.

Coolidge, Calvin. "Speech at Meeting of the Business Organization of the Government." Speech,

Business Organization Meeting, Memorial Continental Hall, Washington D.C., June 30, 1924.

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Cornwell, Jr. Elmer E. "Coolidge and Presidential Leadership." Public Opinion Quarterly 21, no. 2

(1957): 265. doi:10.1086/266712.

Evans, David C., and Mark R. Peattie. Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial

Japanese Navy, 1887-1941. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1997.

Exec. Order No. 3885, 3 C.F.R. (1923).

Exec. Order No. 3984, 3 C.F.R. (1924).

Exec. Order No. 4846-A, 3 C.F.R. (1928).

"Executive Orders Disposition Tables Index." National Archives and Records Administration.

Accessed December 01, 2014. http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/executive-

orders/disposition.html.

Musicant, Ivan. The Banana Wars: A History of United States Military Intervention in Latin America

from the Spanish-American War to the Invasion of Panama. New York: Macmillan, 1990.

Pfiffner, J. P. "The President's Legislative Agenda." The ANNALS of the American Academy of

Political and Social Science 499, no. 1 (1988): 22-35.

"Presidential Vetoes." Presidential Vetoes. Accessed December 02, 2014.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/vetoes.php.

Roberts, Robert. "History of the Legalization of Executive Branch Ethics Regulation: Implications for

the Management of Public Integrity." Public Integrity 9, no. 4 (2007): 313-32.

Roosevelt, Franklin D. "President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Inauguration Speech." Speech, FDR's

First Inauguration, Washington D.C., March 4, 1933.

Shlaes, Amity. Coolidge. New York: Harper, 2013.

Teten, Ryan Lee. The Evolutionary Rhetorical Presidency: Tracing the Changes in Presidential

Address and Power. New York: Peter Lang, 2011.

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Tulis, Jeffrey K. The Rhetorical Presidency. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1987.