What the Newest Addition to the Washington Nationals Can Teach Us About Conservatism

Samantha Reinis /

Baseball fans should be on the lookout for a new addition at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., later this week.

Ladies & gents, please meet the newest #Nats Racing President: Calvin Coolidge!

Welcome to The Show, Calvin. pic.twitter.com/ZWox6RpSYB

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) July 1, 2015

Calvin Coolidge will join five other former U.S. presidents in their fourth-inning trek around the stadium’s warning track, starting this Friday.

The Washington Nationals presidents’ race takes place at each home game, when mascot versions of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft wobble around the field in hopes of making it to the finish line.

The White House Historical Association, a nonprofit organization, signed a multi-year contract with the Nats to promote the lesser-known Coolidge and add a history lesson to America’s favorite pastime.

“What a wonderful opportunity to teach people about something they might not know anything about,” Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Association, told The Washington Post.

Coolidge, in recent years, has become a historical icon for conservatives. Amity Shlaes wrote a book about him, which emphasizes his small-government ideals. “Coolidge,” she says, “restored national trust in Washington and achieved what few other peacetime presidents have: He left office with a federal budget smaller than the one he inherited.”

Coolidge is getting the call from the Nats in a year when they’re expected to compete in the World Series. He was the last president to throw out a first pitch during a Washington World Series game—way back in 1924 and 1925.

In preparation for his baseball debut, below are 11 other facts about the newest addition to the presidents’ race.

  1. Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872, making him the only president to be born on Independence Day.
  2. Coolidge secured the nickname of “Silent Cal,” since he was a man of few words.
  3. He had a passion for languages, however, especially Latin, French and Italian. A foreign diplomat once said that he was able to be “silent in five languages.”
  4. He only lost one election in 1905 when running for his local school board.
  5. Coolidge was known for his stoic disposition in politics as many of his colleagues were arrogantly outgoing.
  6. He rose to national fame as governor of Massachusetts. When the Boston Police Department went on strike after a union leader was suspended, Coolidge called in the National Guard to gain control over the police force. He defended his strong reaction to the strike by claiming, “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, any time.”
  7. Coolidge became Warren G. Harding’s choice for vice president in the presidential election of 1920. Their win established the largest margin of victory of the popular vote in American history.
  8. Harding and Coolidge stepped into the White House during one of the worst economic periods in American history. They combated the slow growth and high unemployment rate by dramatically cutting spending, lowering taxes, and reducing regulations to allow businesses to succeed.
  9. Harding died in 1923, and Coolidge was sworn in as president by his father at their family home in Vermont.
  10. Coolidge believed that the wisdom of the Founding Fathers was necessary to allow America to flourish as a nation.
  11. Coolidge won re-election for his own term as president in 1924, but declined to run for a second term, stating that he wished to return to the people.

The Nationals plan to recognize Coolidge with a bobblehead on Sept. 21.

No related posts.