Following the Conservative Pro-Business Policies by Calvin Coolidge: National Leadership - Case Study Example

 Calvin Coolidge was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Coolidge became the President after the death in office of Warren G. Harding. He continued to follow the conservative pro-business policies of his predecessor and restored integrity to the executive branch. Coolidge was the only son of John Calvin Coolidge, a storekeeper and Victoria Moor Coolidge. His father instilled in him the virtues of honesty, industry, thrift, and piety while his mother instilled in him a love for books and nature. Coolidge was a graduate from Amherst College and began practicing law in 1897. In 1898, Coolidge, a Republican, entered politics as a city councilman from Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1909 he was elected mayor of Northampton and later served as a senator in the Massachusetts state government from 1911–15 and as a lieutenant governor from1915–18. He was elected governor in 1918. In the following year Coolidge caught the nation’s attention when he asked the administration to crush the violence and disorder created by the strike of the Boston police demanding better pay and working conditions. Coolidge refused to reinstate the police officers who had been dismissed for striking. Coolidge’s (1919) famous sentence, “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time” echoed throughout the country. This statement and his strong stand against the Boston police got Coolidge the Republican Party’s ticket as Harding’s vice-presidential running mate in 1920. Harding and Coolidge obtained the largest popular vote margin in presidential elections defeating the Democratic pair of James Cox and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Coolidge became the President upon Harding’s unexpected death on August 2, 1923. He had to take over an administration that was bogged down by scandal. But Coolidge restored integrity to the executive branch by cautiously, and skillfully weeding out the perpetrators. Coolidge was a righteousness man himself and was hence able to convince the Americans that once again the presidency was in the hands of a trustworthy person. He was an austere president with an innovative approach to national leadership. He was known as “Silent Cal” as he was tight-lipped. His six years in office was marked by a stock market boom. He focused on cutting taxes and believed in promoting corporate productivity. He was an innovator in the use of public relations and media. He used the top Public Relations men of his time and various technologies like newsreels and radio to bring the presidency close to ordinary Americans. One look at the results of the Coolidge Administration will show how much his policies influenced the progress of the nation. The federal budget was reduced in size and the national debt was also reduced to half. Unemployment was 3.6 percent and consumer prices rose by just 0.4 percent. There was a 17.5 percent increase in the nation's wealth. Spending on education increased fourfold. Illiteracy fell by nearly fifty percent. However the greatest influence he had was on American business. Coolidge's policies were always pro-business. The Federal Trade Commission that was supposed to regulate corporations came to be dominated by big business. His public statements encouraged the stock market speculation of the late 1920s. During his term Government regulatory agencies, like the Federal Trade Commission, assisted business expansion instead of regulating business practices. Andrew Mellon, Secretary of the Treasury, supported all his policies. Mellon believed strongly in reducing taxes and thought it was the best way to increase the nation's wealth. He believed that if the rich invested the funds that they would otherwise use for paying taxes in new businesses the result would be increase in production and more jobs. Coolidge and Mellon reduced income taxes and estate taxes to a great extent. The highlight of Coolidge presidency was its noninterference in American business and industry. Coolidge believed that government should interfere as little as possible with businesses and individuals. He believed in the idea that the government should play as small a role as possible in the running of the country. A country's welfare lay in allowing business to create wealth. His most famous remark was in a speech that he made in 1925 in which he said, “The business of America is business"(Coolidge, 1925). By this he did not mean that capitalists could accumulate wealth without any governmental interference. He believed that both the capitalist and the worker should benefit and this would happen if there was minimal governmental regulation.  The last paragraph of the speech mentioned above spells out his concept of business. He says, “We make no concealment of the fact that we want wealth, but there are many other things that we want very much more. . . .  The chief ideal of the American people is idealism. I cannot repeat too often that America is a nation of idealists. That is the only motive to which they ever give any strong and lasting reaction”(Coolidge, 1925). Any public policy, Coolidge believed must aim at not redistributing wealth, but at creating it. In his words, "After all there is but a fixed quantity of wealth in this country at any fixed time. The only way that we can all secure more of it is to create more." Coolidge was of the view that one should create jobs and honor honest labor. Thomas Silver (1982) put it rightly when he said, "Coolidge's attitude toward money-making and wealth is the commonsensical one, namely, that wealth is justified only as a means to higher ends. Wealth does provide, in its turn, the leisure and the wherewithal to pursue, for instance, a liberal education, which is among the noblest ends of man." Finally it can be said that to Coolidge business was almost like a religion. Historian Arthur Schlesinger (2003) was right when he wrote, “But, for Coolidge, business was more than business; it was a religion; and to it he committed all the passion of his arid nature...as he worshipped business, so he detested government. Economy was his self-confessed obsession. Coolidge’s own words, “The man who builds a factory builds a temple.  The man who works there worships there”, is enough proof that to him business was a religion. References 1. Coolidge Calvin (1919), quote retrieved from http://www.theamericancause.org/patmittromney.htm on 11/10/09 2. Coolidge Calvin, (1925), Quote retrieved from http://www.calvin-coolidge.org/html/the_business_of_america_is_bus.html on 11/10/09 3. Coolidge Calvin (1925), quote retrieved from http://www.calvin-coolidge.org/html/the_business_of_america_is_bus.html on 11/10/09 4. Schlesinger Arthur (2003), The Crisis of the Old Order: 1919-1933, The Age of Roosevelt, Mariner Books; 1 edition (July 9, 2003) 5. Silver B. Thomas (1982), Coolidge and the Historians (Durham, N.C.: Carolina Academic Press, 1982 Read More