2025 COOLIDGE STUDENT ESSAY CONTEST
Protectionism Essay Contest
The Jones Act: help or harm
Submission deadline: THE 2025 DEADLINE HAS PASSED
This essay contest asks you to consider the topics of protectionism and national security, and in particular a 1920 measure known as the Jones Act.
The Jones Act was crafted to strengthen America’s naval defense in time of war. Congress also sought to give advantages to American shipping over foreign competitors.
Awards
First place in each division (high school and college):
$10,000 cash award, along with the Block PrizeSecond place in each division:
$5,000 cash prizeUp to ten finalists in each division:
$1,000 cash prize eachFirst- and second-prize winners in each division will have their essays published in the Coolidge Review, the magazine of the Coolidge Foundation
Resources
You may find the following resources helpful in your research. Of course, you may augment these materials with additional research if you like:
Jones Act overview (Legal Information Institute)
“A Century of the Jones Act,” Sea History, Winter 2019–20
“The Great Jones Act Debate,” Bloomberg Odd Lots, March 20, 2025: audio │ transcript
“The Merchant Marine Act of 1920 is an earnest effort to lay the foundation of a policy that will build up and maintain an adequate American merchant marine in competition with the shipping of the world….
“Our shipping could be done more cheaply by others, and so we had none. When the war came this lack of shipping cost us hundreds of millions of dollars in higher freight rates or business losses and hundreds of millions of waste in the hasty building of ships to meet the emergency that threatened the overthrow of civilization, and today the papers are filled with stories of waste, corruption and inefficiency that was the inevitable result of the conditions and the situation that confronted us.
“The man or the paper who would discourage the upbuilding of our merchant marine is fighting the battle of alien interests.”
Senator Wesley Jones, August 11, 1920 (quoted in the New York Times):
“Before the war we had to depend on foreign ships for our business. We had to go to our competitors to get our goods to market. Do you help your competitors fight you? Foreign lines gave the advantage to themselves. When you get an advantage do you give it to your competitor, I ask you? That’s what we had to expect and that’s what we got. That is what we must continue to expect if we continue along these same ideas of the old policy.
“I want ships to fly the American flag on the Pacific. There are interests in this country that do not want it. Our Canadian friends are looking after their interests. There is nobody nowadays to look after American interests except we Americans ourselves. It is said this bill will drive foreign shipping from our ports. Granted. I want to do it.”
“The previous Congress, deeply concerned in behalf of our merchant marine, in 1920 enacted the existing shipping law, designed for the upbuilding of the American merchant marine. Among other things provided to encourage our shipping on the world’s seas, the Executive was directed to give notice of the termination of all existing commercial treaties in order to admit of reduced duties on imports carried in American bottoms. During the life of the act no Executive has complied with this order of the Congress. When the present administration came into responsibility it began an early inquiry into the failure to execute the expressed purpose of the Jones Act. Only one conclusion has been possible. Frankly, Members of House and Senate, eager as I am to join you in the making of an American merchant marine commensurate with our commerce, the denouncement of our commercial treaties would involve us in a chaos of trade relationships and add indescribably to the confusion of the already disordered commercial world. Our power to do so is not disputed, but power and ships, without comity of relationship, will not give us the expanded trade which is inseparably linked with a great merchant marine. Moreover, the applied reduction of duty, for which the treaty denouncements were necessary, encouraged only the carrying of dutiable imports to our shores, while the tonnage which unfurls the flag on the seas is both free and dutiable, and the cargoes which make it nation eminent in trade are outgoing, rather than incoming….
“The executive branch of the Government, uninfluenced by the protest of any nation, for none has been made, is well convinced that your proposal, highly intended and heartily supported here, is so fraught with difficulties and so marked by tendencies to discourage trade expansion, that I invite your tolerance of noncompliance for only a few weeks until a plan may be presented which contemplates no greater draft upon the Public Treasury, and which, though yet too crude to offer it to-day, gives such promise of expanding our merchant marine, that it will argue its own approval.”
“Why Senator Jones Differs from Coolidge,” Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Washington), January 22, 1928:
“We must choose between a government merchant marine or no marine at all.”
The Case Against the Jones Act (Cato Institute, 2020): book available for purchase. As an alternative, students can consider reading this essay, available for free online, written by the editors of the book.
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To be eligible for the high school division of the 2025 Coolidge Foundation Essay Contest, you must be scheduled to graduate from high school no earlier than 2026. Homeschooled students are welcome to apply.
To be eligible for the college division of the 2025 Coolidge Foundation Essay Contest, you must be enrolled as an undergraduate at an accredited U.S. college or university as of the fall of 2025.
2025 Coolidge Foundation Essay Contest applicants must be citizens or legal permanent residents of the United States of America by the 2025 application deadline.
2025 Coolidge Foundation Essay Contest applicants cannot be the immediate family member of any current employee of, trustee of, or significant donor to the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation or the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Fund. (Note: Significant donor is defined as one with lifetime giving in excess of $25,000.)
FAQ
Find answers to your questions about the essay contest
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The deadline for submitting your essay for the 2025 contest was Wednesday, September 10, 2025, at 5:00 pm PT.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DEADLINE HAS PASSED.
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Yes, it is important that in your essay, you respond to the full prompt:
The Jones Act: Help or Harm
Protectionism is a term you hear a lot these days. Traditionally, protectionism refers to economic protection: government gives some kind of advantage to U.S. companies or industries. But some protectionist measures also relate to national security: the measure aims to protect America’s defense capacity.
One big question Americans discuss today is whether either kind of protectionism actually works. Does a law achieve the goals lawmakers set when they craft a specific policy?
After World War I, Congress deemed it crucial to ready American defense, especially the Navy, for any future conflict. Lawmakers believed that our Navy battleships would benefit from a strong naval auxiliary—a fleet of U.S. commercial ships, or merchant marine—as backup. To ensure the health of this “fourth arm” of defense, lawmakers in 1920 passed the Jones Act, which gave U.S.-owned private shipping important business advantages, including “cabotage,” a form of monopoly. Under the Jones Act—part of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920—only ships owned by Americans and sailing under the American flag could serve U.S.-to-U.S. routes.
The support for private shipping was later strengthened via the Merchant Marine Act of 1928, which supplied federal loans and contracts; the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which provided direct subsidy for construction of ships; and the establishment of the Merchant Marine Academy in the 1940s to train sailors and engineers for service.
Today, China is strengthening and building ports, not only on its own shores but also overseas. The Jones Act remains in effect—and some U.S. lawmakers, from both parties, call for further subsidy and advantages for U.S. shipping.
Research and write an essay of no more than [1,100 words for high school students; 1,500 words for college students] that reviews the impact of the Jones Act—in the past and today. In the case of the Jones Act, there are strong arguments pro and con. Give us your own opinion: On balance, did the Jones Act and merchant marine provisions of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s exact a domestic cost or confer an advantage for the United States? Did these protectionist efforts strengthen the American shipping industry and America’s defense in World War II? Is further subsidy warranted in the current economic and strategic environment? Or should the Jones Act be repealed?
Please see this list of resources to assist in your research. You may augment these materials with additional research if you like.
Please remember the following when writing and editing your essay:
1. You must submit your essay by 5:00 PM Pacific Time on the submission deadline: Wednesday, September 10, 2025.
2. Your essay must not exceed 1,100 words for high school students, or 1,500 words for college students.
3. Your essay must be your own work. The use of artificial intelligence programs, such as ChatGPT, to write your essays is prohibited. It is acceptable to have others proofread your essay, but all submitted materials must be your own work. Submissions found to be completed by someone other than the entrant or with the help of AI will be disqualified.
4. To ensure that you save your progress and have a backup copy of your essay, we recommend that you work on your essay in a Word document or other program outside of this application and then copy and paste the essay into the response box when you are ready.
5. Make sure that your essay is correctly formatted in the text box, with a space between each paragraph, before submitting. If you’re copying and pasting your essay into the response box, make sure that the formatting is how you want it before you submit. Note: You can expand the response box by clicking on the lower right-hand side of the box and dragging down.
6. Carefully proofread your work. Grammar, spelling, and punctuation will be considered.
7. Make sure to credit the sources you cite in your essay. You do NOT need to follow any particular citation style (e.g., MLA, Chicago Manual, or Bluebook). But it is important to use abbreviated parenthetical citations throughout your essay. Then use the second submission box to include a list of full citations. The full citations at the end of the essay will NOT count toward your 1,100-word limit.
8. To help with your research, we have a list of resources available. Of course, you are permitted to do additional research beyond these resources.
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First place in each division (high school and college): $10,000 cash award, along with the Block Prize
Second place in each division: $5,000 cash prize
Up to ten finalists in each division: $1,000 cash prize each
First- and second-prize winners in each division will have their essays published in the Coolidge Review, the magazine of the Coolidge Foundation
The finalists will be honored, and have the opportunity to compete for the first- and second-place prizes, at a special event this fall in Washington, D.C. The Coolidge Foundation will pay for travel and accommodations for each finalist (and, in the case of high school students, for one parent as well).
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If you enter the high school contest, your essay must not exceed 1,100 words.
If you enter the college contest, your essay must not exceed 1,500 words.
As you will see when you go to submit your entry, we provide you with a second submission box to include a list of full citations. The full citations at the end of the essay will NOT count toward your word limit.
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A panel of judges will review essays. The judges will assess each essay according to such criteria as clarity of writing, quality of analysis and argument, strength of supporting evidence, and proper syntax and grammar.
Up to ten finalists will be chosen for each division of the contest: high school and college.
The first- and second-place finishers in each division will be chosen from among the finalists at an event in Washington, D.C., this fall. See next question for details on the Finalist Event.
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The Coolidge Foundation will bring up to ten finalists from each division to an event in Washington, D.C., to be held Friday, November 7, and Saturday, November 8.
The first night, the finalists will be honored at a special dinner.
The next day, finalists will write an impromptu essay on an assigned topic related to this year’s contest theme. The top impromptu essay from each division (high school and college) will be awarded the Block Prize, which comes with a cash award of $10,000. The second-place finisher in each division will receive a $5,000 cash prize.
The Coolidge Foundation will pay for travel and accommodations for each finalist (and, in the case of high school finalists, for one parent as well).
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The finalists’ event will take place beginning on the evening of Friday, November 7, and will conclude on Saturday, November 8.
The event will be held at Coolidge House, which is located at 3425 Prospect St NW in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
As noted, the Coolidge Foundation will invite up to ten finalists from each division to the event. The Foundation will pay for travel and accommodations for each finalist (and, in the case of high school finalists, for one parent as well).
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The 2025 Coolidge Essay Contest has a high school division and a college division.
To be eligible for the high school division, you must be scheduled to graduate from high school no earlier than 2026. Homeschooled students are welcome to apply.
To be eligible for the college division of the 2025 Coolidge Foundation Essay Contest, you must be enrolled as an undergraduate at an accredited U.S. college or university as of the fall of 2025.
All entrants must be citizens or legal permanent residents of the United States of America by the 2025 submission deadline.
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If you have already graduated from high school, you should enter the college essay contest.
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Unfortunately, no. If you have already received your undergraduate degree, you are ineligible for the Coolidge Foundation Essay Contest.
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Yes. All applicants will be notified by the fall of 2025 of the outcome of their submission.
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Yes, it is important to credit the sources you cite as evidence in your essay.
You do NOT need to follow any particular citation style (e.g., MLA, Chicago Manual, or Bluebook). But you should use abbreviated parenthetical citations throughout your essay and then include a list of full citations after your essay. The list of full citations will not count toward your essay’s word limit.
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The Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation is the official foundation dedicated to preserving the legacy and advancing the values of America’s thirtieth president.
You can read more about the Coolidge Foundation at coolidgefoundation.org.
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If you have additional questions, you may contact us at essaycontest@coolidgefoundation.org.
Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation
PO Box 97
Plymouth, VT 05056