"America's Business is Business"
. . . Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge was one of our oddest Presidents. A dour man from Vermont, he became President upon the unexpected death of Warren G. Harding in 1923. He was called 'Silent Cal' because he said little -- as opposed to many politicians who speak many words and say nothing. It was said that when Coolidge did open his mouth, moths flew out.
Both dry and lacking in humor, tales of his exploits were longer than his speeches. It was once said that he looked as though he'd been 'weaned on a pickle.' Seated next to a loquacious young woman at a White House dinner, his wife reported, the young woman confided to the President that she had a bet with her girlfriends she could get the President to say more than two words during dinner. Without looking at her Coolidge replied "You lose."
But Coolidge should get credit for the one statement that personifies America: "America's business is business."