Ep. 15: Calvin Coolidge (Presidents Are People Too)

De: Alexis Coe, Elliott Kalan

Alexis and Elliott get to know the Vermonter with a maligned legacy, number 30, Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge’s hands-off style of governing has been blamed for paving the way to the devastation of the Great Depression, but personal tragedy may be as much to blame as his fiscal conservatism. Alexis speaks to political scientist Robert E. Gilbert about Coolidge’s long-time struggle with depression. We hear author Jen Doll's very modern re-telling of the moment Coolidge and his wife Grace met, and about the quietly dramatic moment he was sworn into office.

Presidents Are People Too!, an Audible Original, recasts each of the American presidents as real-life people, complete with flaws, quirks, triumphs, scandals and bodily ailments. Hosts Elliott Kalan, former Daily Show head writer, and American historian and author Alexis Coe talk to experts, comedians, journalists, actors and re-enactors to better understand the men memorialized on the Washington Mall and those all but forgotten.

©2016 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2016 Audible Originals, LLC

Bad hit piece of a great man

The narrative shows a plebeian understanding of the root causes of the Great Depression. Read Milton Friedman.