argument. >> you can watch this and other programs online at the tv.org. >> charles johnson is next on booktv. he recounts the tenure and subsequently disregarded. this is about an hour. >> and want to thank you all for coming here today. it is quite an honor. i often find myself wishing that i were in the company of people that i meet here. and i truly wish that i had known i had applied to school many years ago. calvin coolidge was her last classically educated president.

a school founded on the truth that all are created equal. .. orleans who unable to argue with the successes of his policies or the thought behind them rewrote history to cast coolidge as a villain or characterize him. the new deal historians had their work cut out for them.

coolidge proceeded over one of the largest expansion in economic growth in american history and he had a lot to say. coolidge gave over 500 press conferences in his red and see, ran for office 19 times and won 18 times working his way from city councilman to president of the united states. truly a small are republican states in. he was the last president to write his own speeches and kent three collections and published autobiography after his presidency. and internationally syndicated host presidential column. my book "why coolidge matters" is intended to report what coolidge actually had to say and what he did say to restore his views about limited government, american independence and constitutionalism. his thinking on immigration, foreign policy, government

unions and eecllliberal education warrant considerable attention by politicians today. deeply religious man, he did not think the republic was possible without moral and religious education. and the truth will set you free ought to be the guiding principle in all of our education system as well as our republic. america he argued was trying to buy a religious man, the finest schools succeed because they shave souls as well as opinions. great presidents our product of their education. coolidge knew the value of education because his political thought was shaved act and her swear under the tutelage of its most famous professor a professor of philosophy, coolidge learned everything he need to know about politics. william james called him the greatest teacher in the united states and coolidge absolutely

loved him. pages of his very slim autobiography to that old professor and after each died coolidge's wife recounted his works that on his nightstand table throughout his presidency and along with paradise lost and the bible. coolidge considered barmen one of the most remarkable men with whom he had ever coming to contract. he drove to plot referring to himself. there were qualities they wish to develop in themselves, intellectual curiosity, tolerance and idealism. students did develop those qualities in abundance and pull the jury will on these men in times of crisis. dwight morrow, ambassador to mexico, william whiting, secretary of commerce, harlan stone, attorney general and supreme court justice. philosophically and physically far from his professor's lectures coolidge never forgot them were opposed their

teachings. coolidge believed choosing the right thing would refresh the soul, sharpens the mind and just reward from providence here and now. we look upon him as a man who walked with god, his course was a demonstration of the existence of a personal god, power to know him, the divine eminence and complete dependence of the universe on him as creator and father in whom we live and move and have our being. every reaction in the universe is a manifestation of his presence. man was revealed as his son and major the hem of his garment. through a common fatherhood we are embraced in the common brotherhood. the conclusions which fall from this position were logical and inescapable. it sets man in a separate kingdom from all the other creatures in the universe and makes him a true son of god and caretaker of the divine nature. this is the warrant for a man's

freedom and demonstration of his he quality. does not assume a degree but all equal in kind. on that precept rests of foundation for democracy that cannot be shaken. this is the theme coolidge would return to over and over again throughout his presidency and political career. most important for our purposes he taught his students the religious basis for republican government's reasoning that as we have a common fatherhood, common father in god the father we are brothers and only republican government is possible. that men should live together in community as christ did, as servants, not masters, politics doesn't mean survival of the fittest the sacrifice of the fittest of men giving up their seat on the titanic so women and children might live as coolidge noted. the central teachings of the declaration of independence that all men are created equal need to be applied to the issues of his day as well as i would argue

to our own. coolidge applied garment's ideas time and time again to issues of civil rights for blacks, women and native americans to immigration and how we might make immigrants american to the impossibility of public-sector unions in a republic where all are created equal and even foreign policy where he rejected the kaiser's pretension to rule the free men and women of europe and his first fight with the bolshevists who he refused to recognize as rightful rulers of russia. is more controversial acts which we can discuss in the question and answer period, immigration act of 1924, the carrot in their origins have his thinking on the declaration. to defend the declaration, he would have to politically defeat the nihilists of his day, the plan, the eugenicists, the communists and the anarchists whose campaign of bombing and

immigration took place earlier this week. coolidge did this by understanding man has a spiritual nature, those who adhere to it will ultimately be triumphant even in moments of despair, quote, touch that spiritual nature and will respond as the magnet responds to the pole. the, quote, most spiritual document was the declaration. going to his belief in divine intervention he uses highly religious language in discussing it. and it was a miracle inspiring a reference to bring programs of every nation to america's shores and people abroad considered independence hall hallowed ground, and a sacred relic. and represents a spiritual event. they read coolidge's speech, my

favorite coolidge speech was delivered at the home of daniel webster. and it might sound -- he would have agreed with john quincy adams, and there custodian's only of their own. nevertheless he thought our principles could have their expression in other regimes and indeed would. with that, i will read a short selection from that speech. the events of history may have added to the declaration but subtracted nothing. wisdom and experience have strengthened the admiration of it, time and criticism have not shaken it. however worthy of our reverence and admiration, however preeminent it was only one incident of a great forward movement of the human race of which the american revolution was itself only a larger incident. not so much a struggle of the

colonies against the tyranny of bad government as against wrong principles of government and for self-government. it was a man realizing himself. coolidge would go on. that realization persisted through time and touch all men souls as it moves from yorktown marching on to paris and london to moscow to peaking. men of every climb reflected the declaration because it marks the entry of new forces and deals in human affairs. represented the realization of the true glory and worth of man and encouraged by that noble document man would wrought vast changes the mark fall history since its day. man's triumphal progress through much consideration of as coolidge put it natural rights but as coolidge reminds us natural rights are not sufficient to live by. as coolidge reminded me of the audience in webster's of the preservation of natural rights requires an understanding of

duty and pledging to one another and the body of politics, quote, the signers news that will. more important the people they represented a new it so they did not stop there after asserting man was the standout in the universe with a new edge supreme importance the governments were instituted to insure life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, they did not shrink from the logical conclusion of this document. republican men understood politics as a sacrifice, not the survival. the signers of the declaration runs deep in his writings. his first-ever speech, his college prius s.a. and all mention it, coolidge continued to return to the declaration because it was a product of religion and education which he called the twin supports of civilization. as he rose to an episcopalian sunday school teacher in washington d.c. in 1927, quote, the foundations of our society and government rest so much on the teachings of the bible that it would be difficult to support

them if faith and its teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country. coolidge called for a religious revival in his day and i think he would argue even in our own. religious teachings about how man should live need to be universal for america's republic to in door. we should remember coolidge was not sectarian, his fine speeches were given to jewish groups and catholic groups that would not necessarily have agreed with his more protestant orientation. he did think religion was important as being a = citizen. in coolidge's you we can reduce man's quality for reason and revelation and we can go to the project of instituting a government where men serve one another. on this point coolidge quoted the theologians of the founding, john weiss who wrote democracy, government, church and state,

printed in 1772 and according to coolidge have been, quote, declared nothing less than a textbook of liberty for a revolutionary 5 years. the founders believe the ultimate sanction of law rests on the righteous authority of the almighty. i argue that religion, religious faith and education are the ball works that prevented his mind from succumbing to a progressives excesses. education, told a convention of the national scholars, national litigation association in 1924 as the cornerstone of self-government. religion keeps america inoculated from dictatorship because christ spent no time in the antechamber of caesar. the separation of government to render a new caesar what is his and got what was his would keep america american. after all, religion had strong

ties to america's civil life and history. it needed to be cultivated. our government rests upon religion, quote. told boy scouts of america. religion is the source from which we derive reverence for a truth and justice, equality and liberty and the rights of mankind and coolidge, one group coolidge did not believe could meet serious republican citizens were atheists because atheist it recognize something higher than themselves. even among the people who had been savages, religion in some fluids always and everywhere been a force for illumination and advancement. coolidge is a thoughtful speech on this point at howard university where he notes the progress of blacks effectively from slavery and backwardness as he puts it in africa to being equal citizens of the united states and says if it is possible to have this political progress in america it is possible to have it in "why

coolidge matters: leadership lessons from america's most underrated president" and elsewhere throughout the world which is something to consider. in coolidge's view religion breaks down all barriers of raise or culture and replaces it with concern for the universal. new arrivals to be americanized he told an assembly of the foreign-born if they keep up their devotion to religion. immigration becomes dangerous when people lose their faith. he feared as the country grew less religious our civilization might be lost and dependent on government. we cannot depend on government to, quote, do the work of religion because there is no way to substitute the authority of law for the virtue of man. trying to get government to save souls rather than protect men's rights and trust them to save themselves for their churches would ultimately lead to tyranny. this insight was what coolidge ultimately broke with the progressives who held the progress in modern science inevitably meant progress in political science and an overall quality of life.

the argument of the progressives, their belief that man was perfectible, a notion coolidge rejected out of hand at a commencement address at a catholic college holy cross in massachusetts. we have, quote, no right to expect as our portion something substantially different from him experience in the past, the constitution of the universe does not change, even major remains a constant. this assertion the study of the classics which speak to man's human nature have existed throughout the ages teach important lessons to mankind. 4. men come to the study of the classics because they, as he told the american classical league realized the only road to freedom lies through knowledge of truth. hillsdale could appreciate that. this law of knowledge of truth, something contemporary politicians, especially conservatives ought to consider taking on for themselves. . was right when he said every

political party needs in some sense to be progressive rather than reactive but how should we define progress? reading coolidge might give people a good place to start. coolidge's confidence in progress according to the declaration of independence paid political dividends. the god knows from blacks and jews and immigrants and many others. you wentnyere to any audience and the vandalized, delivered the same declaration inspired message. politicians, he noted, avoid the politics of expediency and stick to the politics of principles. perhaps contemporary politicians should do as hillsdale citizens do and read coolidge's speech and the declaration of independence with which i will close. is often asserted the world has made a great deal of progress in 1776, we add new fox and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern but that reasoning

cannot be applied to this great charter, the declaration. of all men are created equal, that is final. if they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. if governments derive just hours from consent of the government that is final. no advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. if anyone wishes to deny their true for their soundness the only direction in which you can proceed historically is not forward but backward toward the time when there was no inequality, the rights of the individual, no rules for the people. they cannot likely to progress, they are reactionary, they are ideas that are not more modern but more ancient than those of our revolutionary fog is. with that i will take some questions. [applause] >> i understand there are a lot of questions about coolidge and

a lot of what people think they know about him may be wrong so feel free to ask anything you want on coolidge and i will try my best to answer it. >> how will supported was coolidge by his own political party? he came in as a vice president under assassination conditions. did he have full support? >> warren g. harding was not assassinated. he died. let me give you a sense of it. coolidge was popular in massachusetts, popular among the party faithful. was not popular among the big wigs at the party convention. in 1920, when the harding/coolidge ticket formed, coolidge was seen as something of a dark horse, that he was not

popular by the people in the smoke-filled rooms so to speak. what ended up happening was his response in 1919, he rejected this idea police officers could have a loyalty to a union over their loyalty as public servants. that response of calling in the national guard and restoring order was very popular in the country as a whole. during his presidency he was popular among different groups, there were coolidge democrats in boston who crossed lines against what the irish american democrat leaders were telling them to do. part of that was coolidge went door-to-door and spoke to the irish as fellow citizens which was something the new england

politics of the henry cabot lodges did not do a very good job of actually doing so coolidge owes his successes to going out, to answer your question more generally, the party faithful, he was often distrusted by the senate leaders in the republican party, particularly interesting to note, we going to this in some length in the book, the relationship between him and his successor herbert hoover. i am sure there will be a question at some point about what if anything what blame coolidge should get for the great depression. it is interesting. criticized herbert hoover on free-market grounds. he said six used that man has given me unsolicited advice, he

referred to him submissive lee as this wonder boy and when writing his successful post presidential column criticizing the socialistic notions of government. this is during the hoover administration. he doesn't have to wait until the administration of franklin delano roosevelt. it is interesting to note that pull. very much understood republican politics of going out and talking to people because he had to. he started as a city councilman and worked his way up and there's not a change of corruption associated with him, none of the sort of thing we expect of people who are machine politicians in our day. don't know if that helps. the gentleman in the back. >> my question relates to his economic and budget cutting policies. coolidge was well known for

using the veto to get rid of pork barrel spending. many could look at it as an example of where republican politicians should go today. many have said theircumstances are entirely different now than they were in the 1920s. would it be possible to have a president who is a ruthless budget cutters like coolidge was today? >> here is where i part company with my friend who wrote a good book on coolidge as well. i believe that coolidge's budget cutting policies and fiscal policies were the fruits of more serious thinking about government. for instance i believe he was in favor of limited government rather than libertarian small government. it helps to a certain sense to imagine in 1920 when the harding/coolidge ticket gets in most of the cuts that took place

were in things like defense spending. i don't know if it is something we want to do today. that said, i do think there's some truth to using the veto pen to having a real responsibility over government, making sure it doesn't grow too much. if government does outside its bounds it doesn't stay limited and does poorly, additional roles it takes up for itself. coolidge understood as he put it that self-government means self support. some of the things we have today, social security, medicare, programs that make people dependent on government are things that he opposed in his own day in his own way. they were not quite the same thing but he was against things like aid to farmers. he was against giving flood relief, local governments did it best, conservative politicians should consider that as well.

during coolidge's time he knew local government very well and need to consider the policies, the principles we turn into policies that will be affected at the local government level because the bounds of what is permissible in local government at is permissible lead the f federal level and that is meing we should be mindful of and considered of. >> if you could clear up the point that is not clear in the presentation. this is about religion, not religious freedom, and the declaration of independence on the other, i thought what you

were saying the natural rights of declaration for coolidge, so it also appeals to religion. and external to the declaration, the declaration is insufficient. >> i don't think he would go that far. he speaks at that point, where he discusses, as a spiritual document, the great awakening thinking, and thinking in tandem is not quite -- it is not quite -- the declaration of independence is a spiritual document, sectarian document, that is a larger question. does it get to natural right? can a non christian or non judaeo-christian actually be a loyal and faithful citizen? coolidge did not take up that issue.

can we be republicans citizens, he does not see a division of we see today between religious -- religion and teachings of revelation and the declaration, he sees them as being joined at the hip. >> you spoke a little bit earlier about education in terms of his citizenship and the need to teach and in a great to the u.s. to become americans and what type of immigration u.s.

should pursue? >> one of the more controversial acts of his presidency is the immigration act of 1924 which set a quotas on the numbers of immigrants that the come to the united states. i actually defend this very unpopular bill in the book on the grounds that what coolidge understood and politicians of his day understood, there are certain types of people who can come to america and assimilate and some who cannot. perhaps some of the more bolshevist inspired ones of eastern europe could not become for citizens and that question is something we as conservatives need to think about. there are certain, put it another way. when coolidge is speaking about norwegian americans becoming full and equal citizens, that is a different sort of immigrant

than somebody from chechnya. that is something we as conservatives need to address and think seriously about. coolidge believed immigration policy and foreign policy were linked but he did not think of it in racial terms, secretary of labor, coolidge rejected that kind of eugenic thinking, and a number of very positive things about japanese-americans which also going to in detail in the book so he thought certain nations could be made, nationals for certain nations could be made american and some could not. as he put it, a lot of the policies around immigration that affect some groups -- while some groups could assimilate, others could not. that is something we need to consider. at the same time he is doing that, pushing immigration bill, he is also making native

americans signing an act that makes all many of american citizens enjoying their tribes because he is trying to fuse the populations into an american home and the same time they are restricting immigration he is also calling for federal put a bill that limits -- basically outlaws lynching. the argues state's rights don't give you a right to do wrong. it is a more complicated picture. i don't know what he would have thought of the current immigration debate today. i can tell you i think we need to have more emphasis on how to make people americans rather than guest workers or voters. there is the language we had a 1986 amnesty bill i don't think is currently talked-about. we don't talk about how to assimilate people, how to make them part of america, coolidge,

from the record, he would have agreed with that. [inaudible question] >> was the constitution a living document? >> no. the people at the claremont institute to good job explaining the constitution is the form that gives life to the declaration. coolidge did not think that the declaration was the only document of importance. he would have listed the bible, he would have listed a number of things we think of as being classically educated -- with the number of documents, important documents, absolutely not. there is no way -- and for the

human race. i don't think that means you should tinker with it. >> thank you. if you could maybe comment about coolidge's view of how politicians should conduct themselves and the character with which they should conduct themselves and as a preamble give you a couple quote pull together for a little introduction to a book we published on coolidge's writing this, one was a quote buy cal thomas who said, quote, politics in the end is not about drama but principle, not about charisma but character and richard gordon smith said to most americans coolidge was more than a character, he was a

character. to most voters he was the leader of rare integrity and removable principal. wonder if you could make some comments. >> it is important to stress. 's tragic view of human nature when thinking about this point. he comes from plymouth notch, vt. a remote part of vermont. he is not quite for but not quite wealthy, everyone sort of equal citizens stock, he did not think of himself as the great man. he said after his presidency he wanted to return to life in plymouth and dodge or north hampton right after his presidency. he also understood that the words of the president have tremendous weight and should not be squandered. if you go and run your mouth all the time as president, that will cause problems for you. he had a sense of his own

limitations and part of this is he understood that wife is not always what we want it to be. when he was growing up his mother died and his sister and when he was president his boy died in his office. there was no notion of a right to health care. it was not possible during coolidge's day. when we think about coolidge as a man who had a sense of his own limitations, and one leg at a time. and to contrast to with president obama, of the contrast is night and day. the president thinks of himself as a great man. coolidge rarely to vacations and when he did he was working in

those vacations. that is something we need to go back to. if you don't teach people the virtues of tolerance, you produce people who are narcissistic politicians who get everything they can out of the system, to bring that out. >> as i understand it calvin coolidge is the first president after lincoln, first republican president or first president of either party that emphasize the declaration of independence and all men are created equal and we have not had many republican or democratic presidents since his term except ronald reagan who really had that emphasis and my question is what happened? we had 7 or 8 republican presidents between lincoln who

based so much of his policy on the proposition that all men are created equal, what happened and consent of discontinues to happen? >> an education problem, classically educated president. coolidge would spend all his time reading. and reading the federalist papers by hamilton and lincoln. coolidge in many respects, lincoln was a college degree. and as coolidge thought, and the declaration and the american founding to abraham lincoln to coolidge's day, and coolidge was

reagan's favored president, i was about to finish on reagan's involvement with understanding of coolidge having gone to the reagan library. if we want to go to conservatives are always wondering how to get back to reagan, back to that glorious time, what we could do is look at coolidge because coolidge that influence reagan's thinking when he grew up of a noble way, and to get his message out. and between abraham lincoln's day, i do know that coolidge made them a politically incapable of his ties to lincoln. in 1924 campaign the people

running the campaign, and a list of civil war -- and the endorsement of the campaign. when coolidge thought of himself, reconstruction -- a desire by number of people not to go back for reviled fights and it was poor education by the republican presidents the followed. and lincoln and coolidge. i don't know if that helps. >> george bush mentioned to the declaration of independence many times, but it was a living declaration of independence so it was used in ways that did not relate to the limited government

notion of the declaration through the notion of government of consent makes quite clear, and i relate that to a defense of the phrase living constitution because where it comes from is the notion of an ever living god. sort of the secularization of that notion. so that is a constancy, the notion of the eternity, and ever living god. what the people who use the term within constitution means is one of you could simply make things up as you go along and i think what we need to do is in our reverence for the constitution make it clear that it applies to all men, americans at all

times, be careful of the way we use the declaration as well, it has the turtle meeting. >> i would agree with that. what is important in coolidge's political thought, progressive, he votes for things that would perhaps put him close to teddy roosevelt and taft or others. he vote for the direct election of senators, he votes for -- he is in favor of women's suffrage. what is interesting about how he explains the defense of progress is in declaration terms.

and therefore you have, that you -- partaken the duties, they think of the neocon variety. and the principles of our e turtle, how one structure's government, the devil is in the details, and i don't think president bush understood, i don't think he understood self-government was extremely complicated. he took too low a view of it, how easily his principles could be transplanted, something that coolidge would have understood as well because of his

understanding of religion. and you raise an important point about the living constitution. one thing we as conservatives can do, try to understand progress, think in those terms. with the declaration in mind. >> to read the speeches you made, learn more about things i most certainly didn't know, we had high school students here. my question is can you explain the tax cuts as quickly as you can but also a couple policy initiatives most people don't understand or don't know about that might be relevant today.

>> when you cut taxes you also cut the size and scope of government. conservative by and large have tried to pull a fast one and think that you can just cut taxes. that may be true in the short run but it is not -- you can't cut taxes on the one hand and keep promising prescription drug benefits. it may be politically effected in the short run but in the long run the politics of expediency get you into trouble. i do think to get at the larger question of tax cuts, they were part of an overall full kit developed by coolidge with his treasury secretary andrew mellon to stimulate the economy. he did it not for a libertarian grounds, because the government didn't need the money.

on the one hand coolidge, weber cutting defense in the early part of the 1920s and coolidge is trying to negotiate with the japanese, the secretary of state negotiating with the japanese and the british reduce naval arms but to the tail end of his presidency in march of 1929 he recognizes we need to do something about what is going on in the country and signs the bill, the first aircraft carrier and battleships. at 7 periods in time certain decisions make sense but at other times they don't and we are always trying to take the policies and reapply them and you need to think more about the principles to get how to think about the problems seriously before you actually execute them. i don't know if that helps.

>> he made a statement earlier, what the link between religious fiscal policies as what happened in october of 1929. explain the major criticisms. >> it is fair to say, i would recommend other books on this more than my own. my understanding of it is that effectively as milton friedman said we have the federal reserve that wasn't up to the task, that effectively created an inflationary economy and many of the problems we associate with the 1920s were caused by the fed. my view on this is while it is true that there was inflationary economy there were also a number of goods and services produced that we still use all the time today.

cars, radios, coolidge is the first president to be on film. it wasn't quite like the inflationary period of the 1990s where everybody bought homes they couldn't afford. there were real things produced. it is important to understand as well henry ford, thomas edison, harvey firestone, industrial titans of the day all endorsed coolidge and match with him and associated themselves with him. if i were to say what caused a lot of the great depression, roosevelt prolonged it. if you look at the recession of 1919-1920 that was a more severe recession than the harding/coolidge ticket dealt with by saying nothing and a lot of people assume 1929 that it was the same situation. government policy particularly the policy of herbert hoover and

franklin delano roosevelt put the great in the great depression. coolidge even in 1922, there is a draft coolidge campaign, people -- he dies in 1933. it is important to understand them when he deals with herbert hoover, they are both republicans and coolidge those his political success to being a good republican party man so he was not going to go out publicly and cause these problems but nevertheless in his residential column he criticizes the policies of the hoover administration, he does criticize a number of big government republican policies of the day. part of the story has not been told satisfactorily. >> who do you feel calvin

coolidge in 1916 election? >> 2016. i met a gentleman two weeks ago to turn 101 and he remembers calvin coolidge so it was something to talk with him but after 2016 senator ted crews did endorse my book so i would be remiss if i didn't mention him. there was a reason i asked him. harvard educated, harvard credential but more seriously educated, harvard was not the place was in coolidge's day or john adams's day. he is a serious thinker. i would even say if rand paul were to get over his more libertarian inclinations, insofar as he does a good job explaining there was limited

government impulses rather than libertarian impulses, would not be my first pick but to a certain extent we have a serious problem because we don't take seriously higher education or shaving young people's souls and minds and we are in for serious trouble in the country, that is being borne out now and will get worse before it gets better and many of the reasons i like hillsdale, to a large extent it teaches these things seriously and principles of the declaration being classically educated and if we produce people who think only in terms of policy of the moment, the twitter culture, and where the country is now where it needs to

be rather than day-by-day and elections. those follow with the principles seriously. >> did coolidge criticize the progress of the amendments that enabled intervention government? direct election of senators or income-tax? >> it is important to understand the income tax in terms of scope, it was not where it is today. this is something, mocking my more left-wing friends, even though he cut them. and part of a booming economy,

you raise an interesting point, starts his courier as a city councilman, legislator and he becomes president of the massachusetts state senate and realizes we are producing too many bills. we have to give administration a chance to catch up and later on when he becomes governor and president he has the same inclination, he has shrink in terms of what government can do. as conservatives we should think about the character of the office shaped the policies and how you think about the problem. many issues we are dealing with today that are a consequence of the progress of amendments, not fully understood or fully suffered. never the less i talk about this in the book, the foreign policy. i do think foreign policy

considerations with the direct election of senators, what happened was you had fort policy that was a lot less over, people were campaigning in their own districts where their own states with the immigrant groups and trying to create policies that would favored them rather than what would previously favored the state. edison in point in the 1920s people who were directly elected and represent their state and create an interesting dynamic in foreign policy that coolidge appreciated but never to my knowledge spoke out against the income tax amendment. he thought income-tax this should be low but that was to have limited government, not because there was a principled objection. so prohibition is really interesting. i regret that i did not go into prohibition in the detail of

deserves in the book because coolidge believed states, massachusetts and others that wanted to effectively ignore prohibition or create their own local laws, he thought they were doing a disservice to the law so we know many members of his administration drained. andrew mellon among them. he was not one to do that, maybe because some people think warren g. harding died because he liked to drink, the problem with prohibition is he saw it as an overreach, his job as president and political figure was to enforce the law. were if up to coolidge he was campaigning in irish-american areas, people knew him in his early political career as more wind than try but he was not -- hegreed with

lincoln's speech on the temperance society. he would be more inclined with that kind of thinking about the issue of prohibition. >> time for one more question. of >> two years after coolidge died there was a huge toqueville revival on the hundredth anniversary of his book and wonder if coolidge ever mentions toqueville given their interest in revision. >> from amherst college, he doesn't mention in his autobiography, he mentions all the other books, he read toqueville. couldn't find any mention of that because i wanted to compare

coolidge's and toqueville description, a smaller republican life. not necessarily inclined to, quote, toqueville. we know that he was very admired by french thinkers who did quote toqueville in coolidge's context which is interesting. there's a guy who wrote a book sort of doing an update, he considered himself writing the appendix for democracy in america and he wrote it in the 1920s and he compares coolidge with washington and other figures as well worth reading, you can get it for $0.10 on amazon. it is worth checking out even

for an afternoon. thanks for having me. [applause] >> we would like to hear from you. tweet us your feedback ecayou tlawe] of them got none

again one of their own, michael mudd, vice president of kraft armed with 114 slides and lead at the feet of the ceos and residents of the largest companies, responsibility not only for the obesity crisis but the rising cases of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, he even linked their food with several cancers and pleaded with them to collectively start doing something on behalf of consumers because he knew that the competition inside the food industry, it is funny because you walk into the grocery store and it seems so tranquil, soft music playing, doing everything they can to encourage you to shop and buy but

behind-the-scenes the food industry is intensely competitive. he understood the only way to move the industry toward a healthier profile of their product would be to get them collectively to do something. from his vantage point the meeting was an utter failure. the c e os reacted defensively and said we are already offering people traces, we have low-fat this and low sugar fact that, if they really want that they can buy those alternative products. we are beholden to the consumers and our own shareholders. they left the meeting basically going back to what they had been doing and continued to do which is to have a deep reliance on salt, sugar and fat. >> what are processed foods? >> mostly looking at what people like to call all fraud processed foods. even a baby carriage can be defined as a processed food because it doesn't grow that way

in the ground, a regular carrot to get shaved into the baby form but typically from my sense processed foods are those things that take natural ingredients and highly refined them, the process them and the formulas, a product i am writing about are incredibly dependent on salt, sugar and fat. you can pick up the label that you can see, thanks to government regulation that we have a, you can see the amounts of salt, sugar and fat in these items and is extraordinary. across the board at the grocery store how reliant the industry is on these ingredients not just for flavor but convenience because they can act as preservatives and also low-cost because they can help the industry of wage using more costly ingredients like fresh herbs and spices. >> are you interested in being a part of the online book club?

we are discussing salt -- "salt, sugar, fat: how the food giants hooked us". michael moss sat down with a booktv at the l.a. times festival of books to discuss his book and answer your questions. .. >> the venezuela general dubbed george washington of south america