Calvin Coolidge

1872-1933
Calvin Coolidge was a native of rural Vermont, from the environment, traditionally associated with New England. He was born July 4, 1872 in Plymouth night and there received his schooling. His father, a farmer, owner of the shop and mail, is very influenced the education of the young Coolidge. His mother died already in 1885. Coolidge attended respectable college Emerst. Since 1898 he was a lawyer in Northampton, Massachusetts. At the same time an ambitious young Republican, began a political career, . first at the municipal level in Northampton (city attorney, . measures) and soon in my state of Massachusetts as a member, . since 1912 - as a senator, . Finally, . in the years 1916-1918 he became vice-governor, . in 1919-1920 - Governor of Massachusetts,
. Coolidge was a conservative, advocated the traditional requirements of Republicans and admired prosperous business people, perceptions of the values of which were his ideas. He had no objection to the improvement of living conditions of society, if it is little cost

. During the turbulent political mood since the end of the war and persecution of any radical Coolidge, as Governor, has made a national celebrity when in 1919, firmly and vigorously acted against the striking police
. It is well known was his telegram to Gompers union leader with the dictum: "No one anywhere and never has the right to strike against public safety". Reputation defender of law and order must Coolidge nomination as candidate for vice president in 1920 on the Republican National Convention. At the new position was elected, along with Harding. Due to the sudden death Gardintaon himself on Aug. 2, 1923 promoted to president. The swearing in of new president had his father, who was also a magistrate, at his home in Plymouth. In the light of a kerosene lamp Coolidge took the oath on the family Bible. This transmitted by radio modest ceremony presented the president as the embodiment of the countryside, healthy America.

Coolidge did not have the charisma of a policy, he was pronounced political leader. He is a solid representative of the American middle layer, economical, terse in personal communication (Silent Cal), diligent and unpretentious. For the public, concerned about the Harding scandal, he was a "Puritan in Babylon". He has surprising speed to restore the integrity and reputation of the federal government. In this he was helped a good relationship with the press. He was the first president who knowingly used the possibility of radio to convey to the audience their policies. Coolidge supported by his wife, Anna Grace Goodhew, a former teacher at the school for the deaf, where 33-year-old Coolidge married in 1905 and which has its charm, warmth and sociability as first lady won the hearts of visitors to the White House.

. Coolidge's presidency had on the zenith of economic recovery of the twenties
. Many compatriots new president soon appeared the symbol and guarantor of long-term prosperity. His views on the health of the country, the required savings in government, on fertile effectiveness of great ability, he followed the then prevailing ideas and ideals. Typical for such thinking was his speech to newspaper publishers in Washington in January 1925, in which he stated: "The main thing the American people - this is the case". Minimum state intervention in economic life and the close informal cooperation of the Government and big business were characteristic signs of the time Coolidge.

. In domestic policy Coolidge largely continued the program of his predecessor Harding
. He recognized himself in favor of further restrictions on immigration, the preservation of protective duties in the interests of American industry, state regulation of credit for farmers, privatization of shipbuilding. The President has kept an office, with the exception of laid-off because of the scandal Harding Minister of Justice and Defense Minister Doherty Uika.

In 1924, Coolidge was re-elected with a large majority of votes. He won as the Democratic candidate, a conservative lawyer from Wall Street, John Y. Davis, as well as the candidate of the coalition of voters, consisting of farmers' organizations, trade unions, civil and women's unions, and reformist Senator from Wisconsin, Robert M. Lafolletta. Former President Taft said of the outcome of the election: "This country is not a country for radicalism. I think that this is really the most conservative country in the world. "

Minister of Trade, Hoover initiated a series of laws that take into account new developments in air services in broadcasting and in other areas. Along with the law of the ballooning should be called and Control Act, the radio in 1927, which included state control of private broadcasting. Law on the Boulder Canyon Project in 1928 was started construction at the time the world's largest dam on the Colorado River. Coolidge signed these future-oriented laws, which, in fact, contradicted his position of non-interference, without much enthusiasm.

. The positive domestic political activities Coolidge is also granting the right of citizenship for American Indians in 1924
. But we should also mention the negative side of the outcome of domestic policy Coolidge. Encouraged by the then Government of the uncontrolled growth of big business and infinitely increasing speculation on the stock, . which the State winked, . to some extent also resulted in the acuteness of the Great Crash of 1929.,

. Government Coolidge rarely listened to the concerns and needs of farmers and miners
. Many of the laws issued by Congress to reform, the president vetoed. Law on additional benefits for veterans of war was issued against the president's veto. This was no accident, since the relationship between the president and Congress have worsened during his stay in office, the president and Congress put obstacles in approving the positions of newly appointed members of the government or the judges. Coolidge extremely passive attitude toward discrimination of black Americans. Racist organization the Ku Klux Klan, he publicly criticized only when its effects are already in decline. Immigration Act 1924 strengthened the restrictions on immigration. Regulatory quotas for individual nations disadvantage of immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, quite deliberately. Immigration from Japan, despite the objections of the Foreign Minister Hughes was almost completely eliminated, resulting in a significant deterioration in US-Japanese relations.

. Coolidge's foreign policy was based on economic expansion and the dominant industrial and financial situation of the country in the twenties
. U.S. foreign investment (center of gravity: Europe, Canada, Latin America) have reached the end of this period, the $ 17 billion tonnes. e. volume leading up to this British deposits in foreign banks and foreign securities. Coolidge Administration on that basis, and continue to follow the conservative internationalism.

Organization of foreign policy Coolidge gave his foreign minister Charles Hughes, and since 1925 - Frank Kellogg. In the matter of reparations and war debts, . basic problem of European politics at the time, . with the Dawes Plan succeeded in 1924 with the active involvement of America to settle on a new basis Germanic reparation payments, . making it possible to long-term loans to U.S. banks in Germany,
. Also in the spirit of compromise has been settled the open question of war debts to the allies in World War. Between 1923 and 1926 years were entered into an agreement with Britain, France and eleven other states that provide long-term debt service at a moderate rate of interest.

. The most notable result of foreign policy Coolidge was a pact renouncing war in 1928, initiated by the French foreign minister Aristide Briand and Foreign Minister Frank Kellogg
. Kellogg-Briand Pact was a multilateral treaty, which included more than 60 countries. The signatories renounced war as an instrument of national policy and have made this contribution to the international legal codification of non-violence and to defuse the international situation. To act for a long time, the pact lacked an effective security mechanism, which could be applied in case of breach of contract.

. In Latin America, Coolidge, on the one hand, continued the tradition of military intervention in Central America and the Caribbean Sea, and ordered the U.S. marines begin fighting in Nicaragua in 1926
. On the other hand, he in 1924 ended military rule in the Dominican Republic. State Department in 1926 has provided a massive political pressure on Mexico and demanded to change the laws of the country and the laws of, . concerning oil, . are called "Bolshevik", . but Coolidge sent a new ambassador in Mexico City on learning of his friend Dwight Y,
. Morrow, who at the talks in 1928 managed to come to terms with the Mexican government. In January 1928 he Coolidge, showing a friendly attitude, took part in the opening 6-th interamerikanskoy conference in Havana. In the same year the State Department formulated the first internal memorandum on the Monroe Doctrine, in which author James Clark Jr. denied that the "Monroe Doctrine" can not justify the American intervention in the hemisphere. Thus Latin American politics Coolidge, identified by the end of his presidency, a new beginning, which was continued by his successor to Hoover.

. In 1928, the Coolidge administration officially recognized the Chinese National Government of Chiang Kai-shek, emerged in the revolutionary civil war, after a year before the bombing of Nanking, intervened in the Chinese civil war
. However, Coolidge and the State Department firmly held firmly to the non-recognition of the USSR, despite the growing economic relations between the two countries.

. In August 1927 Coolidge unexpectedly announced that he had no intention to run for president in 1928
. This decision, based on personal and family reasons, he opened his Secretary of Commerce Hoover path to the nomination and election of new president of the United States.

Calvin Coolidge during his reign was extremely popular president. When he left the presidency, the country was enjoying economic prosperity and the internal and external world. Historical studies Coolidge evaluated more critically. He was considered a rather mediocre president who led his department more than a defined event. His traditional understanding of the policy strongly oriented to the experience of the past than to the need for future. Nevertheless, "the high priest of prosperity" (William A. White) are now remembered in a number of amusing anecdotes, which are in the center of his reticence and natural wit.

After leaving the White House, he again settled in Northampton. Coolidge wrote an autobiography, as well as some time a regular article in the newspaper, which stood for individualism, economical farming and non-interference. Coolidge died on January 5, 1933 at the age of 60 years from the effects of myocardial.

Source: Peoples.ru