What his actions did show were several hallmarks of his governing style. Coolidge preferred restraint to action, and he trusted his appointees, in this case Curtis, rather than overruling them. And although Coolidge harbored progressive tendencies, he was at bottom a New England conservative; he favored modest reforms so long as they neither moved too fast nor disrupted the established order. The police strike offended him not because he had contempt for workingmen but because his belief in civic harmony overrode any urgency he might feel about redressing social inequalities. His philosophy
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