Silent Cal Speaks

By the Editors

He was known as “Silent Cal.”

Calvin Coolidge was taciturn by nature, it’s true. But the nickname obscures important elements of his life and career.

For example, did you know that Coolidge starred in what is today known as Franklin Roosevelt’s medium, radio? Or that as president, he gave hundreds of press conferences and established “a record for speechmaking in the last two decades,” according to the New York Times? Or that Coolidge wrote his own speeches? Or that his Autobiography stands as “the forgotten classic of presidential writing,” in the words of historian Craig Fehrman?

“The words of the President have an enormous weight,” Coolidge wrote, “and ought not to be used indiscriminately.” He lived by that maxim.

Here is a small selection of wisdom from Coolidge’s speeches and writings. If you want to dig deeper, explore the Coolidge Foundation’s collection of quotations.

“Bigotry is only another name for slavery. It reduces to serfdom not only those against whom it is directed, but also those who seek to apply it.”

—Third Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1925

“If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions.”

—“The Inspiration of the Declaration,” July 5, 1926

“The only way to hold the government entirely responsible for conditions is to give up our liberty for a dictatorship…. A free people cannot shift their responsibility for [their mistakes] to the government. Self-government means self-reliance.”

—“Calvin Coolidge Says,” October 17, 1930

“I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form.”

—Inaugural Address, March 4, 1925

“The encouraging feature of our country is not that it has reached its destination, but that it has overwhelmingly expressed its determination to proceed in the right direction.”

—Inaugural Address, March 4, 1925

“When depression in business comes we begin to be very conservative in our financial affairs. We save our money and take no chances in its investment. Yet in our political actions we go in the opposite direction. We begin to support radical measures and cast our votes for those who advance the most reckless proposals. This is a curious and entirely illogical reaction.”

—“Calvin Coolidge Says,” October 7, 1930

“The suspension of one man’s dividends is the suspension of another man’s pay envelope.”

—“Have Faith in Massachusetts,” January 7, 1914

“Whether one traces his Americanism back three centuries to the Mayflower, or three years to the steerage, is not half so important as whether his Americanism of today is real and genuine. No matter by what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat.”

—“Toleration and Liberalism,” October 6, 1925

“The government has never shown much aptitude for real business. The Congress will not permit it to be conducted by a competent executive, but constantly intervenes. The most free, progressive, and satisfactory method ever devised for the equitable distribution of property is to permit the people to care for themselves by conducting their own business. They have more wisdom than any government.”

—“Calvin Coolidge Says,” January 5, 1931

“We must keep our budget balanced for each year. That is the cornerstone of our national credit…. Any surplus can be applied to debt reduction, and debt reduction is tax reduction.”

—Fifth Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1927

“Inflation is repudiation. Deflation is assumption. The one undertakes to suspend economic law, and the other undertakes to support it. Either the nation had to bring down the burden, or the burden would bring down the nation.

—“Our Heritage from Hamilton,” January 11, 1922

“The words of the President have an enormous weight and ought not to be used indiscriminately. It would be exceedingly easy to set the country all by the ears and foment hatreds and jealousies, which, by destroying faith and confidence, would help nobody and harm everybody. The end would be the destruction of all progress.”

—The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge