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The Man Who Knew Coolidge is a 1928 satirical novel by Sinclair Lewis. It features several characters from Lewis' previous works, including George Babbit and Elmer Gantry, as well as a return to the familiar territory of Lewis' fictional American city of Zenith, in the state of Winnemac. Presented as six long, uninterrupted monologues by Lowell Schmalz, an office supply salesman, the eponymous first section was originally published in The American Mercury in 1927.

Plot
The Man Who Knew Coolidge (subtitled "Being the Soul of Lowell Schmalz, Constructive and Nordic Citizen") is recounted in a series of six long, uninterrupted monologues by the sub-titular Schmalz, and as the reader progresses through each, Schmalz gradually reveals additional details about his background and character.

Part 1: The Man Who Knew Coolidge
Schmalz recounts by long digressions and elliptical tales how he knows the then-President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, and describes a visit to the White House to look in on him.

Part 2: The Story by Mack McMack
Schmalz attempts to play cards and remember the punchline of a joke.

Part III: You Know How Women Are
Schmalz recounts his troubles with Mrs Schmalz.

Part IV: You Know How Relatives Are
Schmalz tells the tale of attempting to borrow money for his business from a cousin.

Part V: Travel Is So Broadening
At a dinner with Mr and Mrs George Babbitt, Schmalz recounts the road trip that he never took to Yellowstone.

Part VI: The Basic and Fundamental Ideals of Christian American Citizenship
A final soliloquy by Schmalz, given at a Kiwanis Club dinner, at which the Reverend Elmer Gantry is present.

Origins
The first lengthy section, which originally appeared in ""The American Mercury"", was an adaptation of a monologue that Lewis had performed at Pelican Lake during the writing of ""Elmer Gantry"". After its publication in 1927, Lewis elected to expand ""The Man Who Knew Coolidge"" into a full book, stating that he could "write this stuff at incredible speed" and predicting possible sales of as many as 200,000 copies to Harcourt. Calling the completed book his "swan-song to Babbittism", he delivered the completed material to Harcourt before the end of 1927.

Reception
Critic Mark Schorer notes in his 1961 biography of Lewis that reception of ""The Man Who Knew Coolidge"" was mixed, with both unfavourable, including critic Heywood Broun's statement that ""The Man Who Knew Coolidge"" was "[t]he dullest writing ever to come from a first-class writing man", and favourable reviews, among the latter being a front page appearance on the New York Times Book Review section. Schorer, however, appears unimpressed, calling ""The Man Who Knew Coolidge"" "[a] more trivial project".

Lewis' most recent biographer, Richard Lingeman, devotes very little space to ""The Man Who Knew Coolidge"": in 554 pages there are only two mentions of it. Sales of the initial print run of 30,000 copies amounted to only some 20,000, with the rest being remaindered. The book has not been reprinted since its original American and British publication in 1928.