We believe that we can […] most successfully discharge our obligations to humanity by continuing to be openly and candidly, intensely and scrupulously, American. (4.3)

Coolidge uses his Inaugural Address to really promote this idea of Americans being American. Since they didn't have Burrito Supremes, the Super Bowl, or 65" flat-screen TVs in 1925, it's really hard to know what he's referring to.

Enduring American values, maybe? Things that even predated the original Ghostbusters?

Coolidge first introduces the "be American" idea in reference to U.S. involvement in the Great War: "Because of what America is and what America has done, a firmer courage, a higher hope, inspires the heart of all humanity" (1.7). In this case, it's pretty clear he's referencing the way that America stepped up to help the Allied cause, both militarily and financially, and the way it's helping Europe recover.

Okay, so we're global humanitarians.

Then it gets a little murkier. After reviewing American history, Coolidge declares:

We have been, and propose to be, more and more American. We believe that we can best serve our own country and most successfully discharge our obligations to humanity by continuing to be openly and candidly, intensely and scrupulously, American. If we have any heritage, it has been that (4.2-4).

Huh?

He never really defines what it would mean to be "more and more American." It seems logical that the definition is related to the previous section, where he discusses how "We made freedom a birthright" (3.7) and how the nation "accepted the consequent obligation to bestow justice and liberty upon less favored peoples" (3.8). The U.S. entered World War I in "defense of our own ideals and in the general cause of liberty" (3.9).

But Coolidge doesn't explicitly connect these ideas. It's more of an implication—all these glorious things in the American past are part of the American identity…probably.

But then again, he goes on to say, "But if we wish to continue to be distinctively American, we must continue to make that term comprehensive enough to embrace the legitimate desires of a civilized and enlightened people" (5.1). This undermines the implied definition he just gave, by questioning its completeness. Is the protection of liberty not "comprehensive enough"? If not, what's missing?

According to the next section of the speech, being "American" may also require avoiding domination "by slogans and phrases" (5.2), and not being "too much disturbed by the thought of either isolation or entanglement of pacifists and militarists" (5.5). America needs to have some kind of military but also aim to maintain peace. Again, he doesn't make a very explicit connection between these ideas and his definition of Americanness, but it's implied.

Most inaugural addresses appeal to patriotism and the American way of life, and we're guessing Coolidge knew what Americanness meant to him: liberty, democracy, industriousness, pride in our exceptionalism. More likely the vague language in the Address was a way to allow a more fluid definition of Americanness that could appeal to a broader audience. Calling on people's patriotism, without really specifying what that patriotism had to look like, allowed for more people to feel included, Yankees and Red Sox fans alike.

One thing to keep in mind is that lots of people hearing the speech were immigrants or first-generation Americans. Coolidge may have been trying to shape a shared sense of American values for the newcomers, who brought with them different languages and religions than groups who'd been around longer.

The Coolidge administration passed some of the most restrictive immigration laws up to that point. The recent wave of immigration from Eastern Europe and Russia was stoking fears that communist ideas might intrude on our Americanness. In his 1923 State of the Union address, he said that "New arrivals should be limited to our capacity to absorb them into the ranks of good citizenship. America must be kept American. For this purpose, it is necessary to continue a policy of restricted immigration" (source).

That's not to say that the man himself was unwelcoming to immigrants; he just wanted them to embrace our values and culture. In a speech to the American Legion in 1926, Coolidge said:

Whether one traces his Americanism back three centuries to the Mayflower, or three years of the steerage, is not half so important as whether his Americanism of to-day is real and genuine. No matter by what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat(source).

Clearly, Americanism is an attitude, not an origin story.