Some 60 attendees gathered on Tuesday, January 22, 5:30-7:00 pm to welcome to campus author Garland S. Tucker, III for a book signing in Hackney Library. The event was sponsored by the Friends of Hackney Library.

Tucker is the author of The High Tide of American Conservatism: Davis, Coolidge, and the 1924 Election (Emerald, 2010). He is also President and CEO of Triangle Capital Corporation, a publicly traded specialty finance company in Raleigh, North Carolina. Copies of his book were available for purchase at the event, which was free and open to the public. Refreshments were provided.

Although he currently lives and works in Raleigh, Garland S. Tucker, III, is a native son of Wilson; his grandfather, Garland S. Tucker, Sr., established the Tucker Furniture chain that is still run by members of the Tucker family. Tucker graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Washington and Lee University and received an MBA degree from Harvard Business School. He is a former member of the New York Stock Exchange and also serves on the boards of a number of companies, schools, and charitable organizations.

The High Tide of American Conservatism takes a fresh look at the presidential election of 1924 between candidates John W. Davis and Calvin Coolidge, both of whom "articulately expounded a similar philosophy of limited government and maximum individual freedom; and both men were exemplary public servants," according to a description of the book.

In a September 23, 2010 interview with Roger Aronoff on the "Take AIM" radio show on BlogTalkRadio, Tucker explains how, as a non-historian, he came to write High Tide:

…I have been a lifelong student of history, I guess--certainly love to read history, and one of the periods that I've grown to be interested in was the 1920s. From a business standpoint, as a businessman, I've gotten intrigued with the fiscal policies of the Coolidge and Mellon administration, and, really, felt that they have been very much overlooked and/or misunderstood by most historians over the years. Similarly, I developed an interest in John Davis, and think it's very sad that, as an individual, he's been totally overlooked--or almost totally overlooked--by historians. That was, I guess, the genesis of the book.

A variety of critics have praised Tucker's book:

• George Gallup, historian and author, says "[a]s a pollster, who has for many years studied the shifting tides in political thought in the nation, I found Garland Tucker's book to be enormously helpful in shedding new light on the 1924 Davis/Coolidge presidential race and to its underlying meaning and significance."
• Steve Forbes, chairman and CEO of Forbes Media, calls the book "[a] well-told tale of one of the most extraordinary and long forgotten Presidential elections in American history….Author Tucker has written a fascinating account of a contest we won't likely see replicated again."
• The Wall Street Journal's Daniel Henninger states that "anyone seeking clarity about what's at stake [in the 2012 presidential election] needs to know what happened to our politics in 1924….And Garland S. Tucker III's book is a perfect guide."
• Fred Barnes, Executive Editor of The Weekly Standard and political contributor for FOX News Channel, commends Tucker's achievement: "That historians have largely failed to understand the significance of that election points to what Tucker has accomplished as a non-historian. His revisionist account not only upgrades the election in historical terms, but it also casts a fresh light on Coolidge and Davis."

View our Facebook photo album for images from the event.