When Ronald Reagan chose to hang a portrait of Calvin Coolidge in the White House Cabinet room, he was making a policy statement: Coolidge was a seriously underrated president, and the 30th president had a view of taxation in sync with his own. Six decades earlier, Coolidge had branded taxation that was "not absolutely required" as "only a species of legalized larceny."
I am indebted to Amity Shlaes for gently correcting a joke of mine that dates back to July 8, 1972. On that day in the New York Times, I joshed that President Calvin Coolidge "probably spent more time napping than any President in the nation's history" and therefore was a successful president.
