Charles C. Johnson, author, speaks at UAA June 6

Thursday, June 6, 8-9:30 p.m. UAA/APU Consortium Library, Room 307

The UAA Department of Political Science presents author Charles C. Johnson. He wrote "Why Coolidge Matters: Leadership Lessons from America's Most Underrated President," published in March 2013, and is a contributing writer to The American Spectator.

Professor Guy Burnett offered some background on Johnson. He's recently graduated from Claremont McKenna College, and is a journalist by trade. He has written articles and been published in the Wall Street Journal, City Journal, Claremont Review of Books, National Review, Reason, and other places. He's an up-and-coming young journalist, and he's lectured on Coolidge on C-Span's Book TV, New York's Harvard Club, and many other places. After discussing the book, he will emphasize the leadership lessons Coolidge can teach, as well as examine the social, economic, and foreign policies of his administration. He will be making the case for reevaluating Coolidge as one of the great presidents in U.S. history.

Here is a description of the book:

Imagine a country in which strikes by public-sector unions occupied the public square; where foreign policy wandered aimlessly as America disentangled itself from wars abroad and a potential civil war on its southern border; where racial and ethnic groups jostled for political influence; where a war on illicit substances led to violence in its cities; where technology was dramatically changing how mankind communicated and moved about-and where the educated harbored increasing contempt for the philosophic underpinnings of our republic.

That country, the America of the 1920s, looked a lot like America today. One would think, then, that the President who successfully navigated these challenges, Calvin Coolidge, might be esteemed today. Instead, Coolidge's record is little known, the result of efforts by both the left and right to distort his legacy.

Why Coolidge Matters revisits the record of our most underrated president, examining Coolidge's views on governance, public sector unions, education, race, immigration, and foreign policy. Most importantly, Why Coolidge Matters explains what lessons Coolidge-the last president to pay down the national debt-can offer the limited government movement in the post-industrial age.

Listen to the author discuss his book on C-Span.

This event will take place Thursday, June 6 from 8-9:30 p.m. in the UAA/APU Consortium Library, Room 307. Parking is free after 7:30 p.m. Mon-Thurs and always free on Fridays and the weekends.

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