The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge
Coolidge's autobiography has about 45,000 words, unusually short for the time. It was praised by Ray Long (editor of Cosmopolitan magazine) for describing the complete story of Coolidge's life and "the complete story of our country during the dramatic years of this generation." Coolidge was one of the first U.S. Presidents to write and publish an autobiography. Coolidge's autobiography talks about all of the important moments in his life, such as his childhood and youth, Governorship, Presidency, son's death, and retirement. It was criticized by some for being too obvious and not giving any new information that was previously unknown to the public. However, this trait of the autobiography was not that surprising as no one expected Coolidge to reveal some private government information and secrets in his autobiography (Coolidge was a very private man, despite his happy-going and cheerful public personality image). However, it was also praised for its relative shortness, considering that most autobiographies of the time were much longer. Coolidge's autobiography, in contrast, was about half the size of a novel. One of the most important moments in the book was Coolidge's belief that President Warren Harding would recover (in 1923) and then his surprise and inauguration following Harding's death.