There are a few things in life upon which one can readily depend: Bill Maher's stupidity, the penchant of British media outlets to report hyperbolic, bogus stories, and the timeless wit and wisdom of Calvin Coolidge. - Mike LaRoche
Some time ago, a friend of mine referred to comedian Bill Maher as a "golden god" – appropriating the term coined by Cameron Crowe in his film Almost Famous. I thought of that while watching the latest episode of Real Time with Bill Maher. At show's end Maher closed with a ridiculous pro-environmentalist monologue, uncritically citing the bogus cell phone/bee story reported breathlessly by the British media. As if that wasn't bad enough, Maher even parroted the phony Albert Einstein quote about humanity having only four years to live if all the bees disappeared.
That got me thinking about other spurious quotes I have come across, and there is a particular one I love mentioning to my students when covering 1920s America: "The business of America is business." That quote, allegedly uttered by President Calvin Coolidge on January 17, 1925 during a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, was cited by many a New Deal-era historian as an example of Coolidge's technocratic nature and the laissez les bon temps roulez ethos of his time. To this day, most college history textbooks refer to it. The only problem is President Coolidge never said it.
The infamous quote is, in fact, a misquotation. This is what President Coolidge actually said to the assembled newspaper editors:
There does not seem to be cause for alarm in the dual relationship of the press to the public, whereby it is on one side a purveyor of information and opinion and on the other side a purely business enterprise. Rather, it is probable that a press which maintains an intimate touch with the business currents of the nation is likely to be more reliable than it would be if it were a stranger to these influences. After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with buying, selling, investing, and prospering in the world.
Later in the speech, Coolidge stated:
We make no concealment of the fact that we want wealth, but there are many other things that we want very much more. We want peace and honor, and that charity which is so strong an element of all civilization. The chief ideal of the American people is idealism. I cannot repeat too often that America is a nation of idealists.
Despite his reserved nature, Coolidge was a man of the people - the product of an austere Vermont Yankee upbringing who had far more faith in the abilities of his fellow citizens than in government bureaucracies. During his presidency and after, Coolidge never failed to tout the virtues of limited government. Speaking to reporters at an off-the-record news conference on March 1, 1929 - three days before leaving office - Coolidge said: "Perhaps one of the most important accomplishments of my administration has been minding my own business."
In the grand realm of American politics, President Calvin Coolidge stands as a true golden god. Bill Maher: a mere porcelain god.
And that's the memo.
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