People called President Calvin Coolidge \u201cSilent Cal,\u201d but now he has someone to speak up for him. Historical reenactor Tracy Messer MA\u201983 is giving the 30th president an image makeover. He wants to prove that the often-overlooked president was far more successful than people realize. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trim and tall like his role model, Messer cuts a dapper figure in his straw boater hat, round glasses, and light-tan, double-breasted suit. \u201cI feel like I was born to play this role,\u201d says Messer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Lincoln reenactors are so plentiful they have their own association, Messer believes he is currently the only person who keeps Coolidge\u2019s memory alive on stage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He had a lifelong interest in Coolidge and first began appearing as the 30th president as a hobby, but when the chair of the Coolidge Foundation heard his recitation of the Coolidge autobiography in character, Messer got offered the role for pay. Now as its Coolidge ambassador and administrator, he tours the nation giving speeches at libraries, historical societies, colleges, and churches as the president\u2019s alter ego. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The foundation wants to dispel the image of Coolidge as a figurehead who blithely presided over the 1920s economic boom. \u201cWe believe he was a masterful communicator, an eloquent speaker, and an eloquent listener,\u201d says Messer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An accredited public relations executive, he is quick to list Coolidge\u2019s achievements: \u201cHe significantly reduced the national debt that had grown during the first World War. He cut the tax rate from 58% to 25%. He helped the American Red Cross raise $10 million in charitable funds for relief efforts after the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. He supported the Indian Citizenship Act, which gave Native Americans full citizenship rights. He has been called \u2018our first radio president\u2019 and gave more press conferences on the radio than any president before or since.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year marks the centennial of Coolidge\u2019s taking the Oath of Office following President Warren Harding\u2019s death. On Aug. 3 Messer reenacted the event with Coolidge\u2019s descendants the moment it happened at 2:47 a.m. in the place where it occurred \u2014 his boyhood home in Plymouth Notch, Vt., now a state historic site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coolidge\u2019s reputation suffered, according to Messer, because he died of a heart attack only four years after leaving office, and no one managed his reputation post-death. He acknowledges that while Coolidge was alive, the former president could have done a better job promoting his achievements. \u201cWhen he was ex-president and was asked what he felt was his most significant contribution as president, he responded, \u2018Minding my own business,\u2019\u201d says Messer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While Coolidge did have a dry sense of humor, Messer, who did his thesis on humor and psychotherapy for his master\u2019s in counseling, puts to rest a joke often attributed to Coolidge: A socialite supposedly made a bet that she could get the taciturn New Englander to say more than two words. When she told Coolidge of the wager, he is said to have replied, \u201cYou lose.\u201d It never happened, according to Messer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Audiences often ask Messer\u2019s Coolidge to comment on current events, but he always stays mum on modern controversies. Instead, he shares this quote from a speech Coolidge gave in 1925: \u201cWe are not likely to improve our own condition or help humanity very much until we come to the sympathetic understanding that human nature is about the same everywhere, that it is rather evenly distributed over the surface of the earth, and that we are all united in common brotherhood.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
Messer feels a lifelong connection with Coolidge because his family\u2019s lives crossed paths with the former president: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Historical reenactor Tracy Messer MA\u201983 brings 30th president back to life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1272,"featured_media":12909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[1714,165,95,881],"coauthors":[1719],"class_list":["post-12908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-spotlights","category-alumni-updates","tag-calvin-coolidge","tag-history","tag-politics","tag-president"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-3mc","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2023\/07\/Tracy-Messer.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12908"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12936,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12908\/revisions\/12936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12908"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}