U.S. President Calvin Coolidge was very skillful at turning away any questions he didn't like. However, in 1928, after Coolidge issued his famous "I do not choose to run" statement, a persistent reporter looking for more details followed Coolidge to the door of his library.
The reporter asked for more details about why the president was opting not to run for a second term.
Coolidge looked the reporter squarely in the eyes and replied, "Because there is no chance for advancement."
Does that mean that Coolidge had no ambition? Hardly. He was just a man of few words, and he wasn't about to waste any on an overly ambitious reporter.
Ambition was once condemned as unnatural or even immoral in much of the world.
However, in the modern world and particularly in America, we have come to idealize self-made figures. People such as steel magnate Andrew Carnegie and oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller who, without education or status, transformed the scale of business corporations. Or Frederick Douglass, the ex-slave who was a learned advocate for civil rights. And Elizabeth Arden, the cosmetics icon who built an empire on beauty.
America was settled by generations of immigrants who came here with a burning ambition to make something of themselves and their families. Let's face it, ambition requires hard work. Most people want to improve themselves, but not too many want to work at it.
I'm a proud member of the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, named for the renowned author whose tales of overcoming adversity through unyielding perseverance and basic moral principles captivated the public in the late 19th century. His writings were characterized by a "rags-to-riches" narrative.
