Calvin Coolidge was notorious for being a man of few words. Nevertheless, some of his rare public utterances have gone down in history for their wit or general pithiness. Arguably the most famous would be "The business of America is business," which summed-up Coolidge's laissez-faire ideology. He believed that the government should involve itself in the economy as little as possible, getting out of the way and letting businesses invest and create jobs. For Coolidge, the business of America was business, not government.
Another wonderful quotation, which may or may not be apocryphal, comes from a dinner party at the White House, during which a lady, presented with the challenge of getting the notoriously taciturn Coolidge to speak, supposedly turned to the President and said:
I made a bet today that I could get more than two words out of you.
To which Coolidge is alleged to have replied:
You lose.
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