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Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.;[1] /ˈklɪ/; July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929.

For the Vermont state representative, see Calvin Galusha Coolidge.

Calvin Coolidge

Warren G. Harding

Charles G. Dawes

Channing H. Cox

Samuel W. McCall

Channing H. Cox

John B. Hull

Berkshire, Hampden, and Hampshire counties

James W. O'Brien

William Feiker

Moses M. Bassett

Charles A. Montgomery

John Calvin Coolidge Jr.

(1872-07-04)July 4, 1872
Plymouth Notch, Vermont, U.S.

January 5, 1933(1933-01-05) (aged 60)
Northampton, Massachusetts, U.S.

(m. 1905)

2, including John

  • Politician
  • lawyer

Cursive signature in ink

Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a Republican lawyer who climbed the ladder of Massachusetts politics, becoming the state's 48th governor. His response to the Boston police strike of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight as a man of decisive action. The next year, Coolidge was elected the country's 29th vice president and succeeded to the presidency upon President Warren G. Harding's sudden death in 1923. Elected in his own right in 1924, Coolidge gained a reputation as a small-government conservative with a taciturn personality and dry sense of humor that earned him the nickname "Silent Cal". His widespread popularity enabled him to run for a second full term, but Coolidge chose not to run again in 1928, remarking that ten years as president would be "longer than any other man has had it—too long!"[b]


During his gubernatorial career, Coolidge ran on the record of fiscal conservatism, strong support for women's suffrage, and vague opposition to Prohibition.[2] During his presidency, he restored public confidence in the White House after the many scandals of the Harding administration. He signed into law the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, which granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans, and oversaw a period of rapid and expansive economic growth known as the "Roaring Twenties", leaving office with considerable popularity.[3] He was known for his hands-off governing approach and pro-business stances; biographer Claude Fuess wrote: "He embodied the spirit and hopes of the middle class, could interpret their longings and express their opinions. That he did represent the genius of the average is the most convincing proof of his strength."[4]


Scholars have ranked Coolidge in the lower half of U.S. presidents. He gains nearly universal praise for his stalwart support of racial equality during a period of heightened racial tension in the nation,[5] and is highly praised by advocates of smaller government and laissez-faire economics; supporters of an active central government generally view him far less favorably. His critics argue that he failed to use the country's economic boom to help struggling farmers and workers in other flailing industries,[6] and there is still much debate among historians as to the extent to which Coolidge's economic policies contributed to the onset of the Great Depression.[7]

Coolidge as an Amherst College undergraduate

Coolidge as an Amherst College undergraduate

John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was born on July 4, 1872, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont—the only U.S. president to be born on Independence Day. He was the elder of the two children of John Calvin Coolidge Sr. (1845–1926) and Victoria Josephine Moor (1846–1885). Although named for his father, from early childhood Coolidge was addressed by his middle name. The name Calvin was used in multiple generations of the Coolidge family, apparently selected in honor of John Calvin, the Protestant Reformer.[8]


Coolidge Senior engaged in many occupations and developed a statewide reputation as a prosperous farmer, storekeeper, and public servant. He held various local offices, including justice of the peace and tax collector and served in both houses of the Vermont General Assembly.[9] When Coolidge was 12 years old, his chronically ill mother died at the age of 39, perhaps from tuberculosis. His younger sister, Abigail Grace Coolidge (1875–1890), died at the age of 15, probably of appendicitis, when Coolidge was 18. Coolidge's father married a Plymouth schoolteacher in 1891, and lived to the age of 80.[10]


Coolidge's family had deep roots in New England. His earliest American ancestor, John Coolidge emigrated from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, England, around 1630 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts.[11] Coolidge's great-great-grandfather, also named John Coolidge, was an American military officer in the Revolutionary War and one of the first selectmen of the town of Plymouth.[12] His grandfather Calvin Galusha Coolidge served in the Vermont House of Representatives.[13] His cousin Park Pollard was a businessman in Cavendish, Vermont and the longtime chair of the Vermont Democratic Party.[14][15] Coolidge was also a descendant of Samuel Appleton, who settled in Ipswich and led the Massachusetts Bay Colony during King Philip's War.[16] Coolidge's mother was the daughter of Hiram Dunlap Moor, a Plymouth Notch farmer, and Abigail Franklin.[17]

Early career and marriage

Education and law practice

Coolidge attended the Black River Academy and then St. Johnsbury Academy before enrolling at Amherst College, where he distinguished himself in the debating class. As a senior, he joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and graduated cum laude. While at Amherst, Coolidge was profoundly influenced by philosophy professor Charles Edward Garman, a Congregational mystic who had a neo-Hegelian philosophy.


Coolidge explained Garman's ethics forty years later:

Local political office (1898−1915)

City offices

The Republican Party was dominant in New England at the time, and Coolidge followed the example of Hammond and Field by becoming active in local politics.[29] In 1896, Coolidge campaigned for Republican presidential candidate William McKinley, and was selected to be a member of the Republican City Committee the next year.[30] In 1898, he won election to the City Council of Northampton, placing second in a ward where the top three candidates were elected.[29] The position offered no salary but provided Coolidge with valuable political experience.[31] In 1899, he was chosen City Solicitor by the City Council. He was elected for a one-year term in 1900, and reelected in 1901.[32] This position gave Coolidge more experience as a lawyer and paid a salary of $600 (equivalent to $21,974 in 2023).[32] In 1902, the city council selected a Democrat for city solicitor, and Coolidge returned to private practice. Soon thereafter, however, the clerk of courts for the county died, and Coolidge was chosen to replace him. The position paid well, but it barred him from practicing law, so he remained at the job for only one year.[33] In 1904, Coolidge suffered his sole defeat at the ballot box, losing an election to the Northampton school board. When told that some of his neighbors voted against him because he had no children in the schools he would govern, the recently married Coolidge replied, "Might give me time!"[33]

Death

Coolidge died suddenly from coronary thrombosis at "The Beeches" on January 5, 1933, at 12:45 p.m., aged 60.[186] Shortly before his death, Coolidge confided to an old friend: "I feel I no longer fit in with these times."[187] Coolidge is buried in Plymouth Notch Cemetery, Plymouth Notch, Vermont. The nearby family home is maintained as one of the original buildings on the Calvin Coolidge Homestead District site. The State of Vermont dedicated a new visitors' center nearby to mark Coolidge's 100th birthday on July 4, 1972.

Official presidential portrait of Coolidge, 1932

Official presidential portrait of Coolidge, 1932

Coolidge on a 1938 postage stamp

Coolidge on a 1938 postage stamp

Coolidge with reporters and cameramen, 1924

Coolidge with reporters and cameramen, 1924

Collection of video clips of President Coolidge

Despite his reputation as a quiet and even reclusive politician, Coolidge made use of the new medium of radio and made radio history several times while president. He made himself available to reporters, giving 520 press conferences, meeting with reporters more regularly than any president before or since.[188] Coolidge's second inauguration was the first presidential inauguration broadcast on radio. On December 6, 1923, his speech to Congress was broadcast on radio,[189] the first presidential radio address.[190] Coolidge signed the Radio Act of 1927, which assigned regulation of radio to the newly created Federal Radio Commission. On August 11, 1924, Theodore W. Case, using the Phonofilm sound-on-film process he developed for Lee de Forest, filmed Coolidge on the White House lawn, making "Silent Cal" the first president to appear in a sound film. The title of the DeForest film was President Coolidge, Taken on the White House Grounds.[191][192] When Charles Lindbergh arrived in Washington on a U.S. Navy ship after his celebrated 1927 trans-Atlantic flight, President Coolidge welcomed him back to the U.S. and presented him with the Medal of Honor;[193] the event was captured on film.[194]

SS President Coolidge

Coolidge, Arizona

Coolidge Dam

List of things named after Calvin Coolidge

Presidency of Calvin Coolidge

White House biography

United States Congress. . Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

"Calvin Coolidge (id: C000738)"

Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library & Museum

Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation

Miller Center of Public Affairs

Text of a number of Coolidge speeches

collected news and commentary at The New York Times

Calvin Coolidge

Library of Congress

Calvin Coolidge: A Resource Guide

at Project Gutenberg

Works by Calvin Coolidge

at Internet Archive

Works by or about Calvin Coolidge

, the first presidential film with sound recording

President Coolidge, Taken on the White House Ground

at Curlie

Calvin Coolidge

from C-SPAN's American Presidents: Life Portraits, September 27, 1999

"Life Portrait of Calvin Coolidge"

Calvin Coolidge Personal Manuscripts

on C-SPAN

Appearances

at IMDb 

Calvin Coolidge

in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Newspaper clippings about Calvin Coolidge