Now Accepting Applications for the Coolidge Scholarship

Spread the word to high school juniors in your life:

The application is now open for the Coolidge Scholarship…

…a four-year college scholarship.

Calvin Coolidge and his values receive little attention in schools these days.

But the Coolidge Scholarship attracts thousands of top high school juniors from across the country.

In preparing their applications, students read Coolidge’s Autobiography, study his presidency, and write several essays on Coolidge topics and themes. It’s a deep dive into Coolidge that they won’t get through their coursework.

The Coolidge Scholarship is unique, providing:

Full coverage of tuition, room, board, and course books for four years of undergraduate study at any college in America

Annual trips to Plymouth Notch to learn about the life and legacy of President Coolidge

Membership in a vibrant community of high school and college students

Please pass on the message. And don’t wait! The application is due by January 18, 2024.

Learn More About the Coolidge Scholarship at https://coolidgescholars.org/

Debating the Climate Question

These days, high school debate has become a perverse exercise in one-sidedness.

Just as troubling, most high school debaters don’t get to hear from real-world policy minds as they prepare.

Coolidge Debate is different. Debaters learn both sides of an issue. And they hear from the best minds on a topic. Personally.

Typical was the Coolidge Debate League’s recent North Carolina tournament on climate policy.

First, the 98 students watched Dr. Steven Koonin, author of Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters, debate Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. of the University of Colorado. This contest was the result of a partnership with the Steamboat Institute and the Luddy Schools.

Stephen Einhorn, author of Climate Change: What They Rarely Teach in College, also briefed our students. Armed with this knowledge, our high schoolers then battled it out in multiple rounds at Thales Academy Apex.

Watch the Koonin-Pielke debate now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyZBWhcufxU

News from the Coolidge Community

The Mont Pelerin Society, an international organization that promotes human liberty, made a special trip to Plymouth Notch last week. Leading economists and scholars ventured down from Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, where the society held its regional meeting. Guests included Wendy Gramm, Cynthia Bader, Daniel Peters, and Robert and Rebekah Alt, who toured the Notch with Coolidge Foundation president Matthew Denhart. Thank you to Ryan Yonk and Bradley Bishop for organizing the visit and to Kathy Jacob and Paula Ferro for leading tours.

Last Wednesday, Coolidge Foundation chair Amity Shlaes spoke on the New Deal and the Great Depression at the American Economic Forum in Washington, D.C. At the conference, hosted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, students received copies of New Deal Rebels, a new anthology of New Deal critics edited by Amity and published by the American Institute for Economic Research.

Did you know that Calvin Coolidge was ahead of his time on civil rights? Or that he read Dante in the original Italian? Or that the Prohibition-era president used…cocaine? Hear the full stories on The Coolidge Way, a limited series podcast produced by the Coolidge Foundation and hosted by Governor Jim Douglas. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCnKVD3HLQZZsggm1y9dc4UWvRPBIysic

Coolidge Foundation trustee Steve Forbes recently traveled to Birmingham and spoke to the local Kiwanis Club chapter about the economic viability of electric vehicles. You can read more about his thoughts in the Birmingham Business Journal. Fellow Foundation trustee and Kiwanis Club member Jenny McCain helped host the talk. https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/news/2023/10/25/forbes-weighs-in-on-evs-in-alabama.html

Check out this new article from the Georgetowner about the Coolidge Centennial and the Foundation’s Coolidge House in Georgetown. The reporter spoke with Foundation president Matthew Denhart for the article. https://georgetowner.com/articles/2023/11/08/coolidge-foundation-in-georgetown-celebrates-centenary-of-30th-president/

The documentary Coolidge: Rediscovering an American President made it to Princeton last week. The university’s James Madison Program hosted the sold-out screening, which featured a discussion between Allen Guelzo and Foundation trustee Steve Forbes. Thank you to Jonathan Garaffa for helping to organize the program.

Upcoming Events

Holiday Open House at the Notch

The President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, will reopen for one more day this year. Join us on Saturday, December 2, for the Vermont Division for Historic Preservation’s holiday open house. This free and family-friendly event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

And don’t miss these other upcoming events:

December 5: Coolidge Winter Gala in New York City

December 9: Coolidge Cup Qualifying Tournament in New Haven, Connecticut

January 18: Coolidge Scholarship application deadline

Silent Cal Speaks

“The attempt to regulate, control, and prescribe all manner of conduct and social relations is very old. It was always the practice of primitive peoples. Such governments assumed jurisdiction over the action, property, life, and even religious convictions of their citizens down to the minutest detail. A large part of the history of free institutions is the history of the people struggling to emancipate themselves from all this bondage.”

—Calvin Coolidge, “The Limitations of the Law”

Copyright (C) 2023 Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation. All rights reserved.