This was a surprising moment from Wednesday night's fourth GOP presidential candidate debate. When asked from which president they gained inspiration, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis went to the Wayback machine and pulled out Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President. Much head-scratching and mockery has ensued, especially from the Trump supporters and DeSantis haters. But this makes perfect sense.

Silent Cal knew the proper role of the federal government.

We can learn an awful lot from Calvin Coolidge. pic.twitter.com/mOs3MTpcCh

— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) December 7, 2023

Now, DeSantis is not known for his oratory skills or eloquence; but he is known for his action and policy. The same can be said of Calvin Coolidge. Apparently Coolidge was called "Silent Cal" because he barely spoke in social settings and was documented to have despised wasted speech. In a September 1924 press conference, he was purported to have said, “I don’t recall any candidate for President that ever injured himself very much by not talking.”

The present crop of the GOP and plenty of politicians on both sides of the aisle could take that page from his book.

John Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872, in the small village of Plymouth Notch, Vermont. His father, also named John Calvin Coolidge (1845-1926), was a hardworking and frugal businessman who ran a general store and post office. His mother, Victoria Josephine Moor Coolidge (1846-85), died when her son was just 12 years old. He was raised to be honest, industrious and conservative, with a deep respect for business.

Apparently, his upbringing fueled his perspective on governance. He became a Massachusetts state senator then governor. He was thrust into the national spotlight (much like DeSantis) because he backed his police commissioner in firing striking policemen, and called in the National Guard when riots ensued. 

His actions quelled the unrest and put him in the sights of the national Republican Party, which tapped him to be the vice-presidential pick for Republican presidential nominee Warren G. Harding. Two years into his term, Harding died from what is believed to be heart failure, making Coolidge the president. Coolidge was visiting his father in Vermont when he received the news of Harding's death. Coolidge's father, a notary public, swore his son into office in the middle of the night.

That's a regular scene from a Hollywood screenplay.

Coolidge and his father were named for Protestant reformer John Calvin, and Coolidge's deep religious faith infused his life and politics. 

President Calvin Coolidge, named for 16^th century Protestant reformer John Calvin, was molded by this faith in the Green Mountains of Vermont. He describes his ancestors as “English Puritan stock” in his Autobiography, and notes the quiet but firm faith of his parents and grandparents that influenced his own spiritual direction:

“They kept up no church organization, and as there was little regular preaching the outward manifestation of religion through public profession had little opportunity, but they were without exception a people of faith and charity and of good works. They cherished the teachings of the Bible and sought to live in accordance with its precepts.”[1]

This simple, unpretentious Yankee faith marked President Coolidge throughout his life. During their years in the White House he and Mrs. Coolidge were regular parishioners at the First Congregational Church in Washington, D.C., a storied house of worship with a long tradition of commitment to the social gospel principles that have marked post-colonial Congregationalism. First Church helped found Howard University in 1867, and was one of the few racially integrated D.C. parishes of the era.

In case you didn't recognize it, Howard University is the crown jewel of the historically Black colleges and universities. Silent Cal was not so silent on civil rights, and unlike his Democrat predecessor, Coolidge's actions furthered the rights Blacks had as American citizens, rather than hindered them.

An important factor contributing to the Klan’s decline was the rejection of the Klan and all it stood for by Presidents Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.  Both presidents rose above the prevalent prejudices and bigotry of their day.  They offered deeds, not words, to the Klan’s victims: This was manifested, for example, in their support for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill; in their support for a homeland in Palestine for Jews and encouragement of Jewish philanthropic efforts; and in Coolidge’s granting citizenship to all Native Americans and urging his cabinet secretaries to give black employees “an even chance,” as he put it.[lii] Most importantly, they did not distance themselves from blacks, from Catholics, or from Jews—rather, both Presidents reached out to them publicly as worthy patriotic citizens contributing to the wellbeing of the republic.

The Cato Institute also made note of this: 

Many things happened, but one of them was the presidency of Calvin Coolidge, who served from 1923 to 1929. The Coolidge Presidential Foundation recently published a piece by University of Baltimore president Kurt Schmoke, formerly mayor of Baltimore, entitled “The Little Known History of Coolidge and Civil Rights.” As Schmoke makes clear, the Vermont‐born president’s record was a shining spot in an era that otherwise reflected little credit on American race relations.

Coolidge was also a staunch defender of the Suffragist movement, supported the passage of the 19th Amendment, and 10 years after its passage, he said of women's right to vote: "Nothing can be safer for the commonwealth than the informed judgment of the mothers of the land."

So, why do most conservatives, let alone Republicans tout everyone but Calvin Coolidge? Coolidge ushered in a great period of economic freedom that was not seen again until President Ronald Reagan.

Historians have trivialized Calvin Coolidge as a do-nothing President naive enough to believe that 'the business of America is business,' and many have rated him as one of the worst of all time. However, he produced remarkable results without sacrificing our freedoms. And given that he was born on the 4th of July, there is no better time than our Independence Day to remember him. Under Coolidge, the top income tax rate of 65% under Wilson was eventually cut to 20%. The stock market began its unprecedented 'roaring 20s' climb as it became clear through 1924 that Coolidge's tax reduction bill would pass. In both his first and last year in office, federal receipts were $3.8 billion and expenditures were $3.1 billion, and in between, he cut the national debt from $22.3 billion to $16.9 billion.

Unlike future presidents, Coolidge addressed the issue of immigration with restrictions, rather than openness. The Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924 was both lauded and condemned, but it served to set a precedent for what should lead immigration into the United States, rather than a wholesale policy of "just let them in and we'll sort it out later," that characterizes the Biden administration. In his 1923 State of the Union message, Coolidge said:

 New arrivals should be limited to our capacity to absorb them into the ranks of good citizenship. America must be kept American. For this purpose, it is necessary to continue a policy of restricted immigration.

However, this was borne from common sense, not some racial bias or statist viewpoint. Coolidge also said,

 Whether one traces his Americanism back three centuries to the Mayflower, or three years of the steerage, is not half so important as whether his Americanism of to-day is real and genuine. No matter by what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat.

So, DeSantis is right. We could learn a lot an awful lot from Calvin Coolidge. It would behoove the people who call themselves American conservatives to actually look into his life or pick up a book. Amity Schlaes wrote a very good one called "Coolidge."

“Not to know and appreciate the many excellent qualities of our own country constitutes an intellectual poverty which instead of being displayed with pride ought to be acknowledged with shame.” -Calvin Coolidge pic.twitter.com/D1JpffBPQj

— 🥷🦅Austin Petersen 🇺🇲🥋 (@AP4Liberty) December 5, 2023