Let's be real. Coolidge's Inaugural Address has never been known as one of the epic speeches of American history. Even when he gave it, he was upstaged by his own Vice President, who spent his inaugural talk beating up on the Senate (source).

To be fair, inaugural speeches don't generally stay in the public consciousness for very long. The exceptions would be speeches like Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural, FDR's First Inaugural, and JFK's Inaugural, mainly because they have some famous quotes. Something about caring for the widow and the orphan, nothing to fear but fear itself, or asking not what your country can do for you…

No catchy phrases from Cal, though. That wasn't his style.

Anyway, the point is, every president gives an inaugural address, even when they're re-elected, and only a handful of them are really distinctly remembered.

One thing does make Coolidge's Inaugural Address stand out: his was the first to be broadcast on the radio to a national audience. Until that point, most Americans just read the inaugural speech published in the papers. Having the president's voice projected around the country as he spoke was a game changer, and he did many more radio broadcasts. Silent Cal or not, he was a savvy user of media to polish his image with the American people (source).

The role of the media in presidential politics just exploded from there. FDR's folksy Fireside Chats endeared him to Americans. JFK's camera-ready good looks tipped the scales in the 1960 election. Ronald Reagan, the "Great Communicator" and former actor, won over the country with his televised speeches. It's hard for us to even imagine that, prior to Coolidge, most Americans never knew what their president sounded like.

In the 1980s, under the Reagan administration, Coolidge had a resurgence in popularity among the conservative circles of the government. His successful reduction in taxes and government spending was considered a great economic model. Tax cutting and reducing government spending and regulations on business have been the core economic values of the Republican Party since Reagan.

A passel of recent books about Coolidge have re-assessed his importance as a passive, hands-off president, saying that a hands-off president is just what the country needs in peacetime. George Will, in a piece criticizing Barack Obama's very hands-on presidency, said that Coolidge was "the last president with a proper sense of his office's constitutional proportions" (source). No flurry of executive orders for Cal, "our great refrainer," as his most recent biographer calls him.

Sadly, 1920s flapper dresses have not also come back in style. It might have made the '80s slightly more bearable.