Let Me Just Remind Everyone About How Bad Calvin Coolidge Was as President.
When asked at the GOP presidential primary debate tonight about which president he admired, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis praised Calvin Coolidge. CALVIN COOLIDGE!
History lays blame for Herbert Hoover as the president who was on the job when the stock market crashed in October 1929, ushering in the Great Depression.
But it should not be forgotten that it was Coolidge who had left the White House in March.
And when did Japan start building up its navy that would launch a devasting attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, starting a war in the Pacific that would last nearly four years? When Coolidge was vice president and president. Like the most recent Republican president, Coolidge was more interested in tax cuts for the wealthy than an increase in military spending to help defend the nation.
The 1922 Washington Conference (Coolidge was veep at the time) enabled Japan to catch up to the U.S. and the U.K. due to the 5:5:3 tonnage ratio (U.S./U.K./Japan) provided in the treaty. With British naval commitments all over the world and half the U.S. fleet in the Atlantic, this gave Japan the advantage in the Pacific.
Then in 1927, as president, Coolidge asked the five signatories if the 1922 treaty (the other two being France and Italy) to extend the ratio to smaller ships, such as cruisers and destroyers. France and Italy preferred a greater disarmament treaty and so it was left for the U.S., Britain and Japan to negotiate among themselves. The result was the London Naval Conference of 1930 (a year after Coolidge left office). Limits on cruiser construction and size gave Japan another advantage in the Pacific, as the maximum numbers of heavy cruisers were set at 18 for the U.S., 15 for Britain, and 12 for Japan. Japan's cruiser advantage was clearly made evident during the opening months of World War II.
The key thing to realize about these numbers and the 5:5:3 tonnage ratio is that in an arms race, Japan would never have been able to compete to such a ratio. Top U.S. Navy admirals warned that with such limitations would inhibit the U.S. Navy's ability to defend its control of the Philippines. But with President Hoover's backing, the Republican-controlled Senate passed the Treaty anyway.
It wasn't until the Roosevelt administration undertook a naval rebuilding effort that the U.S. built the navy that would help win World War II.
History lays blame for Herbert Hoover as the president who was on the job when the stock market crashed in October 1929, ushering in the Great Depression.
But it should not be forgotten that it was Coolidge who had left the White House in March.
And when did Japan start building up its navy that would launch a devasting attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, starting a war in the Pacific that would last nearly four years? When Coolidge was vice president and president. Like the most recent Republican president, Coolidge was more interested in tax cuts for the wealthy than an increase in military spending to help defend the nation.
The 1922 Washington Conference (Coolidge was veep at the time) enabled Japan to catch up to the U.S. and the U.K. due to the 5:5:3 tonnage ratio (U.S./U.K./Japan) provided in the treaty. With British naval commitments all over the world and half the U.S. fleet in the Atlantic, this gave Japan the advantage in the Pacific.
Then in 1927, as president, Coolidge asked the five signatories if the 1922 treaty (the other two being France and Italy) to extend the ratio to smaller ships, such as cruisers and destroyers. France and Italy preferred a greater disarmament treaty and so it was left for the U.S., Britain and Japan to negotiate among themselves. The result was the London Naval Conference of 1930 (a year after Coolidge left office). Limits on cruiser construction and size gave Japan another advantage in the Pacific, as the maximum numbers of heavy cruisers were set at 18 for the U.S., 15 for Britain, and 12 for Japan. Japan's cruiser advantage was clearly made evident during the opening months of World War II.
The key thing to realize about these numbers and the 5:5:3 tonnage ratio is that in an arms race, Japan would never have been able to compete to such a ratio. Top U.S. Navy admirals warned that with such limitations would inhibit the U.S. Navy's ability to defend its control of the Philippines. But with President Hoover's backing, the Republican-controlled Senate passed the Treaty anyway.
It wasn't until the Roosevelt administration undertook a naval rebuilding effort that the U.S. built the navy that would help win World War II.
36-40, F
