On August 2, 1923, President Warren Harding suddenly died. Vice President Calvin Coolidge took the presidential oath of office, administered by his father, a justice of the peace.

Myth has it that Coolidge passively presided over the Roaring Twenties, a frivolous decade of flappers and bathtub gin. Actually, as this episode of What’s Ahead points out, Coolidge’s policies created the circumstances for one of the most innovative eras in history. Never before had the quality of life improved so much for so many.