While I am a thorough believer in national defense and entirely committed to the policy of adequate preparation, I am just as thoroughly opposed to instigating or participating in a policy of competitive armaments.
Calvin Coolidge
The Public Record
Calvin Coolidge was the 30th President of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A member of the Republican Party, he was known for his quiet demeanor and strong support for business and limited government. Coolidge's presidency is often associated with the economic prosperity of the Roaring Twenties, and he famously advocated for a hands-off approach to the economy, believing that government should interfere as little as possible in the lives of citizens and businesses.
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Aviation is of great importance both for national defense and commercial development.
We must have an air strength worthy of America.
A sound selective service act giving broad authority for the mobilization in time of peril of all the resources of the country, both persons and materials, is needed to perfect our defense policy in accordance with our ideals of equality.
Never before in time of peace has our country maintained so large and effective a military force as it now has.
The standard which we apply to our inhabitants is that of manhood, not place of birth.
We ought to have no prejudice against an alien because he is an alien.
But we should not, however, be forgetful of the obligations of a common humanity.
One very important result is the stabilization of foreign currency, making exchange assist rather than embarrass our trade.
We can contribute greatly to the advancement of our ideals by joining with other nations in maintaining such a tribunal.
We have more at stake than any one else in avoiding a repetition of that calamity.
We may say that we are contributing to these factors independently, but others less fortunately located do not and can not make a like contribution except through mutual cooperation.
It is difficult to imagine anything that would be more helpful to the world than stability, tranquility and international justice.
We shall do far better service to ourselves and to others if we admit this and discharge our duties voluntarily, than if we deny it and are forced to meet the same obligations unwillingly.
If a court is going to be international, its composition will have to yield to what is good in all these various elements.
If we are going to support any court, it will not be one that we have set up alone or which reflects only our ideals.
I think that we would have the same legal or moral right to disregard such a finding in the one case that we would in the other.
It must be assumed that these requirements will continue to be carefully met, and with America joining the countries already concerned it is difficult to comprehend how human ingenuity could better provide for the establishment of a court…
The judges must be persons of high moral character, qualified to hold the highest judicial offices in that country, or be jurisconsults of recognized competence in international law.
It seems clear that it is the reduction of armies rather than of navies that is of the first importance to the world at the present time.
If the energy which now goes into military effort is transferred to productive endeavor it will greatly assist economic progress.
While they do not of themselves provide an economic rehabilitation, which is necessary for the progress of Europe, by strengthening the guarantees of peace they diminish the need for great armaments.
The policy of our foreign relations, casting aside any suggestion of force, rests solely on the foundation of peace, good will, and good works.
They encourage prosperity in order that poverty may be banished from the home.
They seek to make business good in order that wages may be good.
Politicians like Calvin Coolidge
