Wednesday, September 12, 2012

The Seven Coolest Presidents in US history? Let's Make it Ten

Recently, NPR (National Public Radio) broadcast a piece on the "7 Coolest Presidents in American History."* You can read the story here:

"The 7 Coolest Presidents in American History"

I think this is all well and good, to use the old phrase, but how about making it the Ten Coolest Presidents in American History?

I'll start the conversation by putting into nomination the name of Abraham Lincoln. In terms of coolness in the face of seemingly insurmountable problems and overwhelming national division, Lincoln remained truly "cool."

 Anyone care to nominate presidents # 9 and #10 for our list?

* Note: While style manuals insist that numbers below ten should be spelled out, I have not done so here because this is the way the NPR story has its headline. It's extremely important that scholars quote words exactly as they find them, even if that appears to be wrong.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What about Calvin Coolidge? His campaign slogan was "Keep Cool with Coolidge."