海角大神

In Coolidge, conservative journalist Amity Shlaes gives us a hefty, well-researched, contrarian tome about Calvin Coolidge, the man of few words who ruled the nation during much of the roaring 鈥�20s. Unfortunately, whether you like it will depend on what you believe about macroeconomics.

鈥淥ur modern economic lexicon and the theories behind it cannot capture Coolidge鈥檚 achievements or those of his predecessor, Warren Harding,鈥� Shlaes writes. 鈥淚t is hard for a modern student of economics to know what to make of a government that treated economic weakness by raising interest rates 300 basis points, cutting tax rates, and halving the federal government.鈥�

Shlaes is right 鈥� it鈥檚 very hard, especially if you are one of the students she dismisses. In high school, I learned that a poll of historians designed by John F. Kennedy acolyte Arthur Schlesinger Jr. rated Harding鈥檚 presidency a 鈥渇ailure鈥� and Coolidge鈥檚 鈥渂elow average鈥�; that Harding was corrupt; that Coolidge, who took Harding鈥檚 place when he died in 1923, fostered an economic bubble that ended with the Great Depression; and that John Maynard Keynes鈥檚 prescription for fighting economic downturn 鈥� tax during a boom, spend during a bust 鈥� works.

Shlaes rejects this. 听Director of an initiative on individualism at the George W. Bush Institute, she鈥檚 no stranger to right-wing economics. Her 2008 book, "The Forgotten Man: A New History of The Great Depression", dared听criticize Herbert Hoover 鈥� a stodgy free-marketeer 鈥� for what she sees as his liberal听response to the 20th century鈥檚 most severe downturn. To her, Coolidge, a fiscally stingy president who lived in a duplex after leaving the White House and didn鈥檛 think it was appropriate for the federal government to provide disaster relief, is Superman.

鈥淐oolidge was a rare kind of hero: a minimalist president, an economic general of budgeting and tax cuts,鈥� she writes. 鈥淐oolidge made a virtue of inaction.鈥�

At least her sketch of the 30th president鈥檚 early life is uncontroversial. Born in 1872 in Vermont, Coolidge was a middling student, the last attorney who became commander-in-chief who 鈥渞ead law鈥� in a firm instead of attending law school. In a move that conservatives compare to Ronald Reagan鈥檚 standoff with air-traffic controllers in 1981, Coolidge answered a police strike in 1919 as governor of Massachusetts by firing every officer who deserted his post.

鈥淚n some ways the year 1919 was like 1787,鈥� Shlaes writes. 鈥淭he time for disruption was over; in order for the next day, the next decade, to proceed well ... law must be allowed to reign.鈥�

Four years later, after unexpectedly securing the Republican vice-presidential nomination, Coolidge took the White House after Harding was felled by a heart attack. In 1924, he won the office on his own. Until he chose not to run again in 1928, in many meetings with budget adviser Herbert Mayhew Lord, he 鈥渂rought saving to a high art,鈥� Schlaes says. Even when he knew his vetoes would be overturned, 鈥淪ilent Cal鈥� gave the thumbs-down to rural post roads, initiatives to improve public health, and a bonus for veterans of the Great War.

Coolidge also negotiated the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Treaty between the United States, France, and Germany that aimed to outlaw war as a tool of international diplomacy. Anyone curious how this turned out can Google 鈥淲orld War II,鈥� but Shlaes musters a curious defense of her subject鈥檚 signature diplomatic achievement.

鈥淭he treaty might in future years merely provide fatal cover for dictatorships,鈥� she writes. 鈥淪till the treaty had value as law, as precedent, as a model.鈥� Maybe, but isn鈥檛 the League of Nations 鈥� the brainchild of Woodrow Wilson, Harding鈥檚 Democratic predecessor who conservatives such as Glenn Beck despise 鈥� a more valuable model for international relations?

Coolidge wouldn鈥檛 live to grapple with the failure of Kellogg-Briand and the rise of Adolph Hitler. Five years after he left office, he was dead of a heart attack. Unsurprisingly, the ceremony was spartan.听

鈥淐oolidge鈥檚 was a simple funeral, astonishingly simple for a former president,鈥� Shlaes writes. 鈥淭here was no eulogy, no address, just two hymns.鈥�

No matter 鈥� in "Coolidge," Shlaes provides the hymns. She offers Coolidge as a model for tax-cutting tea party Republicans fresh from November鈥檚 thumping.

鈥淧erseverance, property rights, contracts, civility to one鈥檚 opponents, silence, smaller government, trust, certainty, restraint, respect for faith, federalism, economy, and thrift: these Coolidge ideals do suddenly seem obvious to us as well,鈥� Shlaes writes. 鈥淜nowing the details of his life may well help Americans now turn a curse to a blessing or, at the very least, find the heart to continue their own persevering.鈥�

The best books about presidents, including Doris Kearns Goodwin鈥檚 much-loved "Team of Rivals" and David McCullough鈥檚听"John Adams," step back from modern political debates. Shlaes has written the first substantial book on Coolidge in a decade, but ideology undermines her narrative.听Unless John Maynard Keynes 鈥� and my 11th-grade history teacher 鈥� were totally wrong, it鈥檚 hard to believe her book will be relevant after another.听听

Justin Moyer is a Monitor contributor