Posted on 07/03/2010 2:01:03 PM PDT by JoeProBono
PLYMOUTH, Vt. (AP) -- In the Vermont hamlet where Calvin "Silent Cal" Coolidge was born, folks will celebrate his star-spangled birthday the way they always do....
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Secretary of War John Weeks, Pres. Calvin Coolidge, and Asst. Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Armistice Day
The highly gregarious Dorothy Parker was seated next to “silent Cal” at a dinner. She said to him, “Mr. Coolidge, I’ve made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you.” He replied: “You lose.”
Despite her reputation as the witty gal of the Algonquin Round Table, DOROTHY PARKER (1893-1967) dismissed the clique as just a lot of people telling jokes and telling each other how good they were. They did help her gain a national renown, though, by quoting her lunchtime ad libs and verses in their newspaper columns. Those mordant verses (Razors pain you/rivers are damp ) dont really endure (though they are fun to discover, and certainly I was one of those girls who would moan What fresh hell is this? when her dorm-room phone rang), and Parkers numerous book and theater reviews for the New Yorker and Vanity Fair are remarkable more for their voice than their contribution to modern criticism.
President Coolidge Inaugural Parade
President Coolidge autographing a sap bucket (scanned from my original photo).
From left to right: Harvey Firestone, President Calvin Coolidge, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Russell Firestone, Mrs. Grace Coolidge, John Coolidge at the Coolidge Homestead in Plymouth, Vermont, August 19, 1924.
He’s been a personal inspiration of mine when, as a child, I read a book about him. He was the last president who truly understood what the founding fathers intended. That he is so utterly reviled by liberals (especially those trapped in their ivory towers of academia) shows just how good a man and president he was. Their hatred can be no higher badge of honor of the justness of his actions and his ethic.
Hard work, personal responsibility, thrift, whit, intelligence, respect for the rights of man.
BTW, Ford was a Nazi and Edison was a thief. But other than that, a productive lot.
Coolidge was a role model for Ronald Reagan. He would have been pleased by that.
I read his autobiography a number of years ago. You probably know this already- but there’s actually a passage where he describes visiting one of his female relatives as a youngster. She was smoking a pipe, and he described her in no uncertain terms as being Indian. (Some historians later questioned this account- but I would think it would be easier to prove/disprove with DNA sampling, etc. these days).
i agree with you on the jalopies in the front yard and i haven’t seen a horse-drawn haywagon in ages but when you dig a little deeper under the surface of townies and flatlanders you’ll find the throbbing heart of American Conservatism;hard working people and true blue Americans.
I LOVE MY STATE, VERMONT
GOD BLESS AMERICA and I WISH EVERYONE HERE AT FR A VERY HAPPY 4th of JULY (i’m not shouting either) just proud to be an AMERICAN
Also Jesse Helms, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Madison died on July 4.
VT is OK, but it’s the people of VT who give us pause! They really believe in socialism and practice it too. Coolidge would no longer know the place.
Have visited this historic site yrs ago and I think I bought some cheese at a cheese factory in one building.
Silent Cal
Woman goes up to Coolidge and said, “Oh Mr President I bet someone that I could get you to say _more_ than two words.”
“You lose.”
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