Here’s a rare find for you…

You probably haven’t seen much film footage of Calvin Coolidge.

And how often have you heard the Vermont twang of “Silent Cal”? Even less often, we’d bet.

Or how about his vivacious wife, Grace Coolidge?

That’s why this Christmas newsreel is such a delight. You get to see and hear both President and Mrs. Coolidge.

After the Coolidges left the White House, Santa Claus visited them at their home in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Enjoy this short reel, which raised money for tuberculosis research through the sale of Christmas Seals. You’ll see how Grace was as extroverted as Calvin was introverted.

Coolidge Takes the Presidential Debate Stage

GOP candidates named their favorite presidents at the NewsNation debate earlier this month…

…and Calvin Coolidge earned high praise.

Governor Ron DeSantis said Coolidge was “one of the few presidents that got almost everything right.”

DeSantis added, “He understood the proper role of the federal government under the Constitution.”

This praise for Coolidge drew enthusiastic applause from the debate audience.

The New York Times expressed befuddlement. But John Hendrickson took another view.

See the Praise for Coolidge
News from the Coolidge Community
2023 Coolidge summer intern Marisol Balderas has been named a John Jay Fellow. Congratulations, Marisol.

On CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Jim Cramer praised FedEx founder Fred Smith’s recent speech at the Coolidge Winter Gala: “It’s so informative—talking about the huge amount of debt that the government has taken on in just the last few years. It’s calling for a debt freeze.” Many thanks to Arthur Seeligson for alerting us to Cramer’s words.

Historian Jerry Wallace reviews two recent Coolidge books for the Coolidge blog.

Watch historian Hal Wert discuss his new book, Hoover vs. Roosevelt: Two Presidents’ Battle over Feeding Europe and Going to War.

The Coolidge Foundation just published the first issue of the Coolidge Review. This new magazine illumi­nates the values that guided our nation’s thirtieth president—commonsense ideas that too rarely get a hearing these days. It features top contributors from many fields as well as outstanding Coolidge students.

Upcoming Events

January 18: Coolidge Scholarship application deadline

January 27: Coolidge Cup Debate at Southern Methodist University

February 19: Open house at Coolidge House in D.C.: book party for Garland S. Tucker’s 1924: Coolidge, Davis, and the High Tide of American Conservatism

March 7: Coolidge Foundation national conference at the Library of Congress: “America in Debt”

July 4: Calvin Coolidge birthday celebration at Plymouth Notch

Silent Cal Speaks
“Christmas is not a time or a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”
—President Calvin Coolidge, 1927 Christmas message