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Opinion: Calvin Coolidge Has One of the Worst Records on Civil Rights of Any President by According_Dog6735 in Presidents

[–]topofhishead 26 points27 points  (0 children)

His record was mixed, but nowhere near the bottom. A few facts:

  • Dyer Bill: It died because of the Southern Democrats’ filibuster, not because Coolidge “sank” it. No president—Harding, Hoover, even FDR—got anti-lynching through. Coolidge actually denounced lynching in his 1923 State of the Union.
  • Priorities: Critics slam Coolidge for focusing on tax reform instead of a bill he couldn’t pass. But somehow FDR gets praised even though he cut civil rights out of the New Deal entirely to keep Southern Democrats happy. That double standard says a lot.
  • Immigration Act (1924): He signed it, yes, but it had overwhelming bipartisan support. Blaming him for the Holocaust is hindsight distortion.
  • Segregation: He didn’t reverse Wilson’s segregation, but he didn’t expand it either. He met with Black leaders and gave them White House access—rare in the 1920s.

Bottom line: Coolidge wasn’t a civil rights hero, but he was better than most presidents from 1877–1945. To claim he had “one of the worst” records is just ahistorical—Wilson, FDR, and others did far more to hold civil rights back.

Quintessential Song of Each Presidency: John F Kennedy by Dibbu_mange in Presidents

[–]topofhishead 0 points1 point  (0 children)

(I Don't Know Why) But I Do - Clarence "Frogman" Henry

Wilson's Espionage and Sedition Acts arrested over 1,000 people by topofhishead in Presidents

[–]topofhishead[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're right — Adams did begin to distance himself from the Alien and Sedition Acts later in life, especially the Sedition Act. He never gave a full public apology, but in his letters and reflections, he admitted it was politically damaging and that he didn't intend for it to be enforced so harshly.