Coolidge Radios Ahead
Letter to the Editor
Alex J. Pollock | American History
December 01, 2008

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Resident Fellow
Alex J. Pollock

H. W. Brands ("15 Minutes That Saved America," October 2008) writes in praise of Franklin Roosevelt's use of the radio, but mistakenly asserts that his presidential predecessors had not "seriously explored radio's technological potential." Calvin Coolidge did. Recent Coolidge biographer David Greenberg writes that Coolidge used radio "more effectively than any of his contemporaries. . . . After his 1923 State of the Union message, Coolidge began to give speeches regularly on the radio. . . . Coolidge grasped radio's novel benefits. Most obviously, he could command audiences that already numbered in the tens of millions. . . . Coolidge knew his voice went over well on the new medium. . . . 'I am very fortunate I came in with the radio,' he reflected…. 'I have a good radio voice and now I can get my messages across.'"

Let's give "Silent Cal" his due credit for the innovation.

Alex J. Pollock is a resident fellow at AEI.

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About the Author

 

Alex J.
Pollock
  • Alex Pollock joined AEI in 2004 after thirty-five years in banking. He was president and chief executive officer of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago from 1991 to 2004. He is the author of numerous articles on financial systems and the organizer of the “Deflating Bubble” series of AEI conferences. In 2007, he developed a one-page mortgage form to help borrowers understand their mortgage obligations. At AEI, he focuses on financial policy issues, including housing finance, government-sponsored enterprises, retirement finance, corporate governance, accounting standards, and the banking system. He is the lead director of CME Group, a director of Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation and the International Union for Housing Finance, and chairman of the board of the Great Books Foundation.

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