When Grace Anna Goodhue wed Calvin Coolidge in 1905, she thought
then that marriage "has seldom united two people of more vastly
different temperaments and tastes." Warm and vivacious to her
husband's dour and taciturn, Grace was to be a contrast to Calvin
for years to come. But as Robert Ferrell shows, their marriage
ensured her husband's rise to high office.
Ferrell focuses on Grace Coolidge's years in the White House,
1923-1929. Although the president did his best to rein her in--even
forbidding her to speak on public issues--Grace quickly became one
of the most popular and stylish of first ladies. Among the
best-dressed women of her time (famously in red), she became the
nation's fashion leader. She also opened the White House to the
public, sponsored musicales within its walls, and worked on behalf
of the deaf and disabled--all despite a less than supportive
spouse. Ferrell recounts how she accomplished all of this, finding
strength through the years in her Burlington background, her
family, and her faith.
In this lively book Ferrell provides a perceptive and often
moving account of Grace Coolidge. From his insightful portrait of
her Vermont roots to a frank assessment of the Coolidges and their
sons, he offers a fresh perspective on a much-admired woman who was
perhaps her husband's greatest political asset.
Ferrell also takes readers inside Grace's strained marriage to
the famously taciturn president who kept his wife in the dark about
his plans, both political and personal. He offers a much more
subtle look at the Coolidges and their relationship in the public
eye than we've had, shedding new light on how she managed to deal
with his irascible temper-and how the marriage ultimately triumphed
over difficulties that Calvin could not have handled alone.
Alternately charming and analytic, Ferrell's narrative will
leave readers with the real sense of Grace Coolidge as a human
being and a contributor to the historical legacy of presidential
wives. For she did more than simply enliven a quiet White
House--she set the tone for a nation and for first ladies to
come.
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