Grace Coolidge: The People's Lady in Silent Cal's White House
Author: Robert H Ferrell
When Grace Anna Goodhue wed Calvin Coolidge in 1905, she thought then that marriage "has seldom united two people of more vastly different temperaments and tastes." Warm and vivacious to her husband's dour and taciturn, Grace was to be a contrast to Calvin for years to come. But as Robert Ferrell shows, their marriage ensured her husband's rise to high office.
Ferrell focuses on Grace Coolidge's years in the White House, 1923-1929. Although the president did his best to rein her in—even forbidding her to speak on public issues—Grace quickly became one of the most popular and stylish of first ladies. Among the best-dressed women of her time (famously in red), she became the nation's fashion leader. She also opened the White House to the public, sponsored musicales within its walls, and worked on behalf of the deaf and disabled—all despite a less than supportive spouse. Ferrell recounts how she accomplished all of this, finding strength through the years in her Burlington background, her family, and her faith.
In this lively book Ferrell provides a perceptive and often moving account of Grace Coolidge. From his insightful portrait of her Vermont roots to a frank assessment of the Coolidges and their sons, he offers a fresh perspective on a much-admired woman who was perhaps her husband's greatest political asset.
Ferrell also takes readers inside Grace's strained marriage to the famously taciturn president who kept his wife in the dark about his plans, both political and personal. He offers a much more subtle look at the Coolidges and their relationship in the public eye than we've had, shedding new light on how she managed to deal with his irascibletemper—and how the marriage ultimately triumphed over difficulties that Calvin could not have handled alone.
Alternately charming and analytic, Ferrell's narrative will leave readers with the real sense of Grace Coolidge as a human being and a contributor to the historical legacy of presidential wives. For she did more than simply enliven a quiet White House—she set the tone for a nation and for first ladies to come.
This book is part of the Modern First Ladies series.
What People Are Saying
David Greenberg
More than any other biographer, Ferrell demonstrates how important Grace Coolidge was to her husband's career. She emerges in this account not only as sympathetic but also as significant. A magnet for press coverage, she was sensitive, stylish, much beloved, and nobody's fool. (David Greenberg, author of Calvin Coolidge)
Richard Norton Smith
Ferrell is a graceful stylist and a born storyteller. His Grace Coolidge would be a fascinating subject had she never been first lady--but as this wonderfully readable book makes clear, her husband was lucky, and her country luckier still, that she was. (Richard Norton Smith, author of An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover)
Betty Boyd Caroli
A story that will intrigue--and enlighten. (Betty Boyd Caroli, author of First Ladies)
David Greenberg
More than any other biographer, Ferrell demonstrates how important Grace Coolidge was to her husband's career. She emerges in this account not only as sympathetic but also as significant. A magnet for press coverage, she was sensitive, stylish, much beloved, and nobody's fool. (David Greenberg, author of Calvin Coolidge)
Betty Boyd Caroli
A story that will intrigue—and enlighten. (Betty Boyd Caroli, author of First Ladies)
Richard Norton Smith
Ferrell is a graceful stylist and a born storyteller. His Grace Coolidge would be a fascinating subject had she never been first lady—but as this wonderfully readable book makes clear, her husband was lucky, and her country luckier still, that she was. (Richard Norton Smith, author of An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover)
Table of Contents:
Ch. 1 Early Years 1
Ch. 2 Double Harness 27
Ch. 3 "She Took Precedence over Me": The New First Lady 57
Ch. 4 Public Events 77
Ch. 5 The Family 96
Ch. 6 Together, Alone 121
Ch. 7 Later Years 143
Notes 155
Bibliographic Essay 167
Index 177
Book review: Complementary and Alternative Medicine Supplement use in People with Diabetes or Mind Body Fitness
Utilization-Focused Evaluation
Author: Michael Quinn Patton
The second edition of Patton's classic text retains the practical advice of the original. It shows how to conduct an evaluation in a way that will be useful -- and actually used. Patton has included new stories, new examples, new research findings, and more of his evaluation humour. He adds to the original book's insights into the changes in evaluation during the past decade and incorporates recent research on utilization.
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