The history of the U.S. Government’s relationship with the indigenous peoples of North America has long been fraught with much difficulty and tragedy. There are many things we all wish had been done differently, or not at all.

President Calvin Coolidge is known for many things, including his championing of limited government, his deft handling of the 1919 Boston Police Strike, and his responsible stewardship of the federal budget. But how often do we recall his pioneering gestures to improve race relations in the fraught decade of the 1920s? We were recently reminded of President Coolidge’s noble actions by the Hon. Kurt Schmoke, president of the University of Baltimore and former Baltimore mayor.

Historian Jerry Wallace once wrote that Charles Lindbergh is “the exception to Emerson’s rule that all heroes become bores. His name still retains its magic.”