Monday, May 9, 2011

Famous Calvin's in History - Part I




While we have had very positive reviews to Calvin’s name, most people have not heard of very many Calvin’s out there. So this is Part I of a series highlighting famous Calvin’s throughout history as well as a proprietary “Calvin Score” for each person:

We'll start off with a former leader of the free world and the "most libertarian president in history" - President Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., (July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933) was the 30th President of the United States (1923–1929). A Republican lawyer from Vermont, he was elected as the 29th Vice President in 1920 and succeeded to the Presidency upon the sudden death of Warren G. Harding in 1923. Elected in his own right in 1924, he gained a reputation as a small-government conservative, and also as a man who said very little.

Although Coolidge was known to be a skilled and effective public speaker, in private he was a man of few words and was therefore commonly referred to as "Silent Cal." A possibly apocryphal story has it that Dorothy Parker, seated next to him at a dinner, 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." His famous reply: "You lose.”

He has been called the most “libertarian” president, and focused on laissez-faire government. His reputation underwent a renaissance during the Ronald Reagan Administration, but the ultimate assessment of his presidency is still divided between those who approve of his reduction of the size of government programs and those who believe the federal government should be more involved in regulating and controlling the economy.

During Coolidge's presidency the United States experienced the period of rapid economic growth known as the "Roaring Twenties". With the exception of favoring increased tariffs, Coolidge disdained regulation, and carried about this belief by appointing commissioners to the Federal Trade Commission and the Interstate Commerce Commission who did little to restrict the activities of businesses under their jurisdiction. The regulatory state under Coolidge was, as one biographer described it, "thin to the point of invisibility."

Coolidge's economic policy has often been misquoted as "generally speaking, the business of the American people is business". Some have criticized Coolidge as an adherent of the laissez-faire ideology, which they claim led to the Great Depression. But most of the issues of the day he left to the responsibility of state and local governments.

Coolidge's taxation policy was that of his Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon: taxes should be lower and fewer people should have to pay them. In addition to these tax cuts, Coolidge proposed reductions in federal expenditures and retiring some of the federal debt.

http://www.xaviercromartie.com/2009/12/libertarian-ranking-of-united-states.html

Overall, seems like my kind of president and could give us another nickname option (although after spending the past week with Calvin, I'm not sure if he qualifies as "silent Cal" )

And, I’ll make sure to use his presidential biographies as bedtime reading in a few years when I need to lull Calvin to sleep.

Overall Calvin Score – 4 / 5

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