Coolidge: A Political Biography of Presidential Leadership, Service, and How One President Rebuilt America's Trust in Government

New York Times Bestseller

“Amity Shlaes’s new biography carries a different and highly relevant message. . . . Read Coolidge, and better understand the forces bearing on the President and Congress almost a century later.” — Paul Volcker

“America’s 30th president has been much misunderstood. . . . Shlaes’s biography provides a window onto an unfairly tarnished period. It deserves to be widely read.”—The Economist

Timed to the centennial of the Calvin Coolidge presidency, an updated edition of Amity Shlaes’s brilliant and provocative New York Times bestselling biography examines an underrated chief executive who offered a model of presidential service strikingly different from that seen in America today. This new edition features a preface by Washington Post columnist George F. Will.

Seemingly unbreachable political divisions, war and pandemic, unrest in cities, a budgetary crisis, economic disruption –all troubles we confront today—also challenged America a century ago. When President Warren Harding passed away suddenly in 1923, America seemed to be heading deeper into uncertainty. Many considered the vice president who suddenly succeeded Harding, the modest Silent Cal, a mere lame duck. Yet over the course of the 1920s, through breathtaking discipline and determination, this unexpected president set America on a new course and restored the nation’s confidence in itself.

In this magisterial political biography, bestselling author Amity Shlaes traces Coolidge’s dramatic story, and the roots of his strength, from a childhood in a New England hamlet to his rise from town lawmaker to governor of Massachusetts and his dramatic handling of the Boston Police strike. Through bipartisanship, civility, and sheer perseverance, the thirtieth president ended the era of crisis and delivered both a solvent government and a better life to working Americans.

More importantly, Coolidge carefully rebuilt Americans’ trust our own government. As Shlaes shows, Coolidge led by example, inspiring Americans to cast away irony and anger. Elected on his own in 1924, Coolidge seemed set for reelection in 1928. Yet a fateful trip to South Dakota—where he observed the great profiles of other Presidents being sculpted at Mount Rushmore—coincided with Coolidge’s greatest demonstration of presidential leadership. Precisely because he believed service more important than glory, as Shlaes records, Coolidge made a sacrifice rare for a popular president, and announced he would not run again.

At once a revision of a leader and a decade, this dramatic biography, complete with a new preface from George F. Will, Coolidge captures the remarkable and again timely story of a rare president whose leadership couldn’t be timelier today. 

This authoritative work of American history reveals:

• A Model of Presidential Leadership: Discover how Coolidge’s belief in service over glory offered a powerful alternative to modern leadership, culminating in his shocking decision not to seek reelection.
• Fiscal Discipline in Action: Learn how the 30th president’s focus on bipartisanship and perseverance successfully created a solvent government and a better life for working Americans.
• A Man of Character: From his dramatic handling of the Boston Police strike to his quiet civility, trace the story of a leader who rebuilt the nation’s trust in its government through personal example.
• Lessons for the 21st Century: Understand the striking parallels between the challenges of 1920s America―deep political divisions, economic disruption, and social unrest―and the issues we face today.

Amity Shlaes is the author of four New York Times bestsellers: The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression, The Forgotten Man/Graphic, Coolidge, and The Greedy Hand: How Taxes Drive Americans Crazy. 

Shlaes chairs the board of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation and the Manhattan Institute’s Hayek Book Prize, and serves as a scholar at the King’s College. Twitter: @amityshlaes