The political left often dismisses Calvin Coolidge for not being activist enough in forcing Americans to submit to its favorite charity – government.
But when it came to real charity, such as when the Japanese people suffered a horrific earthquake in 1923 that ultimately toppled the democratic government, Coolidge acted decisively. Before the Japanese fleet had itself even arrived, Coolidge dispatched the Asiatic fleet to minister to the wounded after an earthquake, tsunami, and typhoon rocked Tokyo and Yokohama, killing more than 143,000 people and injuring over a 100,000.[1]
The earthquake led to an inferno, as open fire grills toppled over and set the ground ablaze. Before long, the government broke down and anarchy ensued as Japanese civilians turned against Korean laborers, accused them of poisoning water wells and massacred them in the panic.[2] Coolidge, the fourth titular head of the American Red Cross, appealed to the American people to help the Japanese people right the catastrophe:
While its extent has not as yet been officially reported, enough is known to justify the statement that the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama, and surrounding towns and villages, have been largely if not completely destroyed by earthquake, fire and flood, with a resultant appalling loss of life and destitution and distress, requiring measures of urgent relief. Such assistance as is within the means of the Executive Department of the government will be rendered; but realizing the great suffering which now needs relief and will need relief in the days to come, I am prompted to appeal to the American people, whose sympathies have always been so comprehensive, to contribute in aiding the unfortunate and in giving relief to the people of Japan.[3]
Coolidge asked for $10 million in donations; the American people gave $12 million, an unprecedented amount, by December 1923.[4] The U.S. Navy performed honorably and led to Thomas J. Ryan receiving the Medal of Honor for rescuing a woman from a burning hotel. His citation reads as follows:
For heroism in effecting the rescue of a woman from the burning Grand Hotel, Yokohama, Japan, on 1 September 1923. Following the earthquake and fire which occurred in Yokohama on 1 September, Ens. Ryan, with complete disregard for his own life, extricated a woman from the Grand Hotel, thus saving her life. His heroic conduct upon this occasion reflects the greatest credit on himself and on the U.S. Navy, of which he is a part.
President Coolidge honored Thomas, pictured here, who went on to become a rear admiral, at the White House. He is interred near my grandfather, Rear Admiral Dwight L. Johnson, in Arlington National Cemetery.
As our nation reduces its naval armament, we ought to never forget that the U.S. Navy is our gift as civilized people to the rest of the world. The world may not care for our unilaterialism when it comes to toppling dictators, but the first call it makes — like in Libya — is to the U.S. Navy — and President Obama, to his credit, has answered that call with two aircraft carriers sent to Japanese waters. Another U.S. ship has been sent to the Marianas Islands.
But in scuttling the Navy in recent years, Obama does the world a great disservice. If Americans shirk this noble responsibility, the world would necessarily look very different. Our Navy is essential to the world order. It protects the peace, it promotes global trade, and saves lives daily. President Obama must be made to realize this.
The temptation to reduce our Navy was felt in Coolidge’s day, as well. The President flirted with the same sort of one-world disarmament. In part because he presciently believed that the next war would be fought by airplanes and aircraft carriers were exempt from the 1921 conference, but also because he wished to reduce British and Japanese naval power. When the British and the French conspired to work around the treaty in 1928, Coolidge quickly woke and authorized a massive naval buildup. One of the last acts of his presidency was to sign the Naval Construction Act of February 1929 which authorized the construction of fifteen heavy cruisers and an aircraft carrier, the USSRanger.
We rightly gripe about how our allies are offloading the cost of the world’s security onto our backs, but if it were not for us, who would answer the call?
I am currently at work on a book about Calvin Coolidge’s political thought. If you are a Coolidge fan or a book publisher, please drop me a line at chuckwalla1022@gmail.com.
[1] William F. Nimmo, Stars and Stripes Across the Pacific: The United States, Japan, and Asia/Pacific Region 1895-1945, (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Company, 2001), 112.
[2] Nimmo, 113.
[3] Coolidge’s statement to the American people, cited in Joshua Hammer, Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire That Helped Forge the Path to World War II, (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2006), p. 224.
[4] Hammer, 227.
