Taciturn

Taciturn (pronounced tas-i-turn)

(1) Inclined to silence; reserved in speech; reluctant to join in conversation.

(2) Dour, stern, reticent, quiet and silent in expression and manner.

1765-1775: A back formation from taciturnity (a tendency habitually to be silent; reserved in speech) or from the fifteenth century French taciturne, from the Latin taciturnus (not talkative; noiseless, quiet, maintaining silence), from tacitus (silent) & tacēre (to be silent).  The Modern French form is taciturne (feminine taciturna, masculine plural taciturns, feminine plural taciturnes).  Taciturn is an adjective, taciturnity is a noun and taciturnly is an adverb; the noun plural is taciturnities.

Silent Cal

Not all US presidents have been as voluble as Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021): Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933; US president 1923-1929) was famously taciturn and widely known as silent Cal.  When news of his death was announced, Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) is said to have remarked, "How can they tell?"  Still, when he did speak, what he said could be pithy.  Having unexpectedly been chosen by the Republican National Convention as Warren Harding's (1865–1923; US president 1921-1923) running mate in 1920, he assumed the presidency upon Harding death and in 1924 declined to nominate his own running mate, again leaving it to the convention on that basis that in 1920 they'd "...picked a durned good man".  At one dinner he was seated next to a woman who told him she'd made a bet with her friend who'd told her she'd not be able to get more than two words from him  He answered: "You lose" and returned to his soup.

Silent Cal, silent (left) and listening (right).

The White House was an early adopter of the telephone, the first device installed in the telegraph room in 1877 during the administration of Rutherford Hayes (1822–1893; US president 1877-1881) and the handset was moved to the Oval Office during his presidency.  It was Coolidge who has a place in the history of broadcasting by virtue of being the first president to speak into a microphone wired up for a "live, on-location broadcast", then a novel concept which involved a mobile studio installed in a truck and lots of cables.  The occasion was the president's visit in 1925 to a small town during what was known as a "whistle stop" tour, the name from the US railroad system in which "whistle stop stations" were those at which the train stopped only if the station-master sounded a whistle to tell the driver to stop and pick up freight or passengers.  In Glendale, California, the radio station's reporter, rising to the moment of the occasion, said to his listeners: "And now, for the first time in history, the American people are to hear, by the magic of radio, the voice of the President of the United States, Mr President, sir, what message do you have to give the people as you go aboard your train at the end of this historic trip?"  Coolidge leaned towards the microphone and said: "Goodbye."  The then boarded his train and left for the next whistle stop.    

Lindsay Lohan and her lawyer in court, Los Angeles, December, 2011.

There is some some support for Silent Cal's approach; in politics, it’s been observed more men talked themselves into trouble than ever talked their way out.  Perhaps the exemplar was a certain Mr WM Jack, the member for North Sydney in the Australian parliament between 1949-1966.  A rarity among talkative politicians, during his long and undistinguished career he became known as “the silent one”, in seventeen years delivering five speeches, one of which was “I move that the motion be put”.  It’s not known if William Shakespeare's (1564–1616) Polonius (from Hamlet (circa 1600)) was in his mind when he began his penultimate address to the house with the words “I can remain silent no longer”.  His constituents rewarded his taciturnity: he retired undefeated having increased his majority on most of the six occasions he sought re-election and in gratitude, in the New Year Honours List (1968) he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to the parliament and the community.  Of course, if one has no need to seek votes, one may with few restraints tend to the loquacious.  Fidel Castro (1926–2016; leader of Cuba 1959-2011) delivered infamously long speeches, his address to the 872nd plenary meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) on 26 September 1960 lasting 4 hours & 29 minutes, a record which still stands.  Given the United Nations (UN) General Assembly vies with the European Parliament for the title of the world’s most pointless deliberative body, it’s not impossible the record will one day be broken.