Calvin Coolidge - The Man Is President L'homme est président

Text extracted from opening pages of book: CALVIN COOIL1B6B THE MAN WHO Is PRESIDENT BY WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1925 All right* COPSRTGTTT, 1925, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and printed. Published November, 1925. PMHTII? ttf TH* VNtTHR STATKH Of AJMRICA IT 1MB FERRIS HUimu COMPANY TABLE OF CONTENTS PART i BLESSED ARE THE MEEK CHAPTER PAGB I. IN WHICH WE STATE OUR THESIS . . 3 II. THE CHILD AND His BACKGROUND . . 8 III. THE CALLOW YOUTH IN COLLEGE ... 18 IV. OUR HERO STEPS OUT INTO LIFE ... 26 V. THE FIRST RUNGS OF THE LADDER . . 35 VI. ECCJE THE SMALL-TOWN HOMO 42 PART II FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH VII, THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE CGOLIDGB MYTH 57 VIII. BEHOLD THE VOTE GETTER! 69 IX. THE ESCAPE FROM NORTHAMPTON ... 83 X. THE SPOTLIGHT FINDS OUR HERO . . . gz PART III CINDERELLA AT A GAY PARTY XL MASSACHUSETTS GETS A SURPRISE . . . 103 XII. NEW ENGLAND COMES BACK TO THE WHITE HOUSE * 114 XIII. THE RISE OF A NEW DYNASTY . . . . 128 AUG 7 1950 OF CONTENTS XIV.?* v t l HE CORONATION AND THE REVOLT OF THE BARONS 136 XV. THE PRESIDENCY RETURNS TO THE CONSTITUTION 147 PART IV THE HUMAN PROBLEM AT WASHINGTON XVI. A MAN EMERGES FROM THE MYTHS . . 163 XVII. THE SENATE LEADER AND THE PRESIDENT 171 XVIII. MORE ABOUT NATIONAL POLITICS . . 182 XIX. THE DRAGON AT THE GATE . . . . 195 PART V SOME DATA FOR PROPHECY XX. THE MIND OF CALVIN COOLIDGE . . . 215 XXL THE CHISELING WHITE LIGHT . . . 230 XXII. BACK TO VERMONT 238 XXIII. JVHAT IT ALL MEANS 246 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS New England Returns to the White House . Frontispiece FACING PAGE Calvin Coolidge, Age Three 4 The Plymouth School 12 Plymouth, Vermont 14 Coolidge's Ludlow Academy Class Picture ... 16 Coolidge Father andSon 20 Coolidge As Mayor of Northampton 46 Coolidge As Lieutenant-Governor 64 Coolidge As Vice-President 114 Plymouth, the Day After President Harding Died . 124 Coolidge Family Lot in Plymouth Cemetery . . . 126 The Journey to the Inauguration 144 After He Was Inaugurated 146 Mrs. Calvin Coolidge 164 The Coolidge Home in Plymouth 240 Coolidge Helping Grandfather Coolidge . 242 PART I BLESSED ARE THE MEEK CALVIN CHAPTER I IN WHICH WE STATE OUR THESIS An introduction to this book seems necessary* that the reader may not begin it under a misappre hension. The book is not a formal biography. It Is not an attempt to write a history of the quarter of a century during which Calvin Coolidge has been In politics. The biographical material and the his tory which the book contains are in it only because they help to explain the man whose story shall fol low* The book is a study of a personality, The monstrous magnification which follows the white light that beats upon a throne, makes every President more or less unique. We see him always somewhat out of drawing. Every daily act and his most casual words are isolated by environing events; not thrown into perspective with the rest of his life. Thus any President becomes in the popular concep tion a superman, In spite of his ordinary character* Yet sometimes men of odd sizes do come to the White House; men of peculiar qualities, men with areas of exceptional powers. In the fifty passing years, the presidency has shown us three such men: 3