“Calvin Coolidge: A Silver Lining”

Brittany Baldwin of The Imaginative Conservative has produced a superb review of Dr. Thomas Silver’s enduring work, Coolidge and the Historians. While Dr. Silver is regrettably no longer with us, Ms. Baldwin has done well not only in assessing the value of recent studies on the thirtieth president (as in Coolidge by Amity Shlaes and Why Coolidge Matters by Charles Johnson), she looks back to the prime mover of restoration for Coolidge’s record and legacy.

It was Dr. Thomas Silver who returned honest standards of scholarship to the most underrated president of modern time. It was Dr. Silver’s work who laid the foundation for a renewed appreciation of Coolidge now. Ms. Baldwin has done a commendable job in reminding us of the indebtedness we all hold to this good and faithful scholar, Thomas B. Silver, the man who “started it all.” As Dr. Silver continues to exemplify the best of Claremont Institute so Ms. Baldwin is a great credit to Hillsdale College.