Calvin Coolidge, the 30th U.S. president, led the nation through most of the Roaring Twenties, a decade of dynamic social and cultural change, materialism and excess. Nicknamed “Silent Cal” for his quiet, steadfast and frugal nature, Coolidge, a former Republican governor of Massachusetts, cleaned up the rampant corruption of the Harding administration and provided a model of stability and respectability for the American people in an era of fast-paced modernization.
In one of Coolidge’s most insightful letters, he wrote:
Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is filled with educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination are omnipotent. Press on
