Coolidge and Reagan: The Rhetorical Influence of Silent Cal on the Great Communicator

While other scholars have observed the influence of Calvin Coolidge on Ronald Reagan's rhetoric, the connection between them has not been comprehensively explored. Based upon interviews with Reagan White House staffers and speechwriters, I argue that Coolidge and Reagan shared a common ideological message, which served as the basis for modern conservatism. Often without engaging in explicitly partisan rhetoric, Reagan's principled speech served an important party-building function.