Calvin Coolidge





Calvin Coolidge
30th President of the United States
In office
August 2, 1923  March 4, 1929
Vice PresidentNone (1923–1925)[lower-alpha 1]
Charles G. Dawes (1925–1929)
Preceded byWarren G. Harding
Succeeded byHerbert Hoover
29th Vice President of the United States
In office
March 4, 1921  August 2, 1923
PresidentWarren G. Harding
Preceded byThomas R. Marshall
Succeeded byCharles G. Dawes
48th Governor of Massachusetts
In office
January 2, 1919  January 6, 1921
LieutenantChanning H. Cox
Preceded bySamuel W. McCall
Succeeded byChanning H. Cox
46th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
In office
January 6, 1916  January 2, 1919
GovernorSamuel W. McCall
Preceded byGrafton D. Cushing
Succeeded byChanning H. Cox
President of the Massachusetts Senate
In office
Preceded byLevi H. Greenwood
Succeeded byHenry Gordon Wells
Member of the Massachusetts Senate
In office
Preceded byAllen T. Treadway
Succeeded byJohn B. Hull
Mayor of Northampton, Massachusetts
In office
Preceded byJames W. O'Brien
Succeeded byWilliam Feiker
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office
Preceded byMoses M. Bassett
Succeeded byCharles A. Montgomery
Personal details
John Calvin Coolidge Jr.

(1872-07-04)July 4, 1872
Plymouth Notch, Vermont
Northampton, Massachusetts
Resting placePlymouth Notch Cemetery
Political partyRepublican
Grace Goodhue (m. 1905)
Alma materAmherst College
ProfessionPolitican, lawyer
SignatureCursive signature in ink


Coolidge restored public confidence in the White House after the scandals of his predecessor's administration, and left office with considerable popularity.[3] As a Coolidge biographer 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]


Birth and family history

Coolidge as an Amherst College undergraduate

John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was born in Plymouth Notch, Windsor County, Vermont, on July 4, 1872, 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). Coolidge Junior was called by his middle name, Calvin. 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 the Vermont House of Representatives as well as the Vermont Senate.[6] Coolidge's mother was the daughter of a Plymouth Notch farmer. She was chronically ill and died, perhaps from tuberculosis, when Coolidge was twelve years old. His younger sister, Abigail Grace Coolidge (1875–1890), died at the age of fifteen, probably of appendicitis, when Coolidge was eighteen. Coolidge's father married a Plymouth schoolteacher in 1891, and lived to the age of eighty.[7]

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.[8] Another ancestor, Edmund Rice, arrived at Watertown in 1638. 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.[9] His grandfather Calvin Galusha Coolidge served in the Vermont House of Representatives.[10] Coolidge was also a descendant of Samuel Appleton, who settled in Ipswich and led the Massachusetts Bay Colony during King Philip's War.[11]

Early career and marriage

Education and law practice

Professor Charles Edward Garman


Coolidge explained Garman's ethics forty years later:



Marriage and family

Grace Coolidge

In 1903, Coolidge met Grace Anna Goodhue, a University of Vermont graduate and teacher at Northampton's Clarke School for the Deaf. They married on October 4, 1905 at 2:30 p.m. in a small ceremony which took place in the parlor of Grace's family's house, following a vain effort at postponement by Grace's mother; she was never enamored with Coolidge, nor he with her.[15] The newlyweds went on a honeymoon trip to Montreal, originally planned for two weeks but cut short by a week at Coolidge's request. After 25 years he wrote of Grace, "for almost a quarter of a century she has borne with my infirmities and I have rejoiced in her graces".[16]

The Coolidges had two sons: John (September 7, 1906 – May 31, 2000) and Calvin Jr. (April 13, 1908 – July 7, 1924). The death of Calvin Jr. at age 16 from blood poisoning brought on by an infected blister "hurt [Coolidge] terribly," according to son John. John became a railroad executive, helped to start the Coolidge Foundation, and was instrumental in creating the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site.[17]

Coolidge was frugal, and when it came to securing a home, he insisted upon renting. Grace Coolidge was a member of Northampton's Edwards Congregational Church, but Coolidge never formally joined the congregation.[18]

Local political office

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.[19] In 1896, Coolidge campaigned for Republican presidential candidate William McKinley, and the next year he was selected to be a member of the Republican City Committee.[20] In 1898, he won election to the City Council of Northampton, placing second in a ward where the top three candidates were elected.[19] The position offered no salary but provided Coolidge invaluable political experience.[21] In 1899, he declined renomination, running instead for City Solicitor, a position elected by the City Council. He was elected for a one-year term in 1900, and reelected in 1901.[22] This position gave Coolidge more experience as a lawyer and paid a salary of $600 (equivalent to $18,070 in 2018).[22] In 1902, the city council selected a Democrat for city solicitor, and Coolidge returned to private practice.[23] 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.[23] 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!"[23]

State legislator and mayor

In 1906, the local Republican committee nominated Coolidge for election to the state House of Representatives. He won a close victory over the incumbent Democrat, and reported to Boston for the 1907 session of the Massachusetts General Court.[24] In his freshman term, Coolidge served on minor committees and, although he usually voted with the party, was known as a Progressive Republican, voting in favor of such measures as women's suffrage and the direct election of Senators.[25] While in Boston, Coolidge became an ally, and then a liegeman, of then U.S. Senator Winthrop Murray Crane who controlled the western faction of the Massachusetts Republican Party; Crane's party rival in the east of the commonwealth was U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.[26] Coolidge forged another key strategic alliance with Guy Currier, who had served in both state houses and had the social distinction, wealth, personal charm and broad circle of friends which Coolidge lacked, and which would have a lasting impact on his political career.[27] In 1907, he was elected to a second term, and in the 1908 session Coolidge was more outspoken, though not in a leadership position.[28]

Instead of vying for another term in the State House, Coolidge returned home to his growing family and ran for mayor of Northampton when the incumbent Democrat retired. He was well liked in the town, and defeated his challenger by a vote of 1,597 to 1,409.[29] During his first term (1910 to 1911), he increased teachers' salaries and retired some of the city's debt while still managing to effect a slight tax decrease.[30] He was renominated in 1911, and defeated the same opponent by a slightly larger margin.[31]

In 1911, the State Senator for the Hampshire County area retired and successfully encouraged Coolidge to run for his seat for the 1912 session; Coolidge defeated his Democratic opponent by a large margin.[32] At the start of that term, he became chairman of a committee to arbitrate the "Bread and Roses" strike by the workers of the American Woolen Company in Lawrence, Massachusetts.[lower-alpha 2] After two tense months, the company agreed to the workers' demands, in a settlement proposed by the committee.[33] A major issue affecting Massachusetts Republicans that year was the party split between the progressive wing, which favored Theodore Roosevelt, and the conservative wing, which favored William Howard Taft. Although he favored some progressive measures, Coolidge refused to leave the Republican party.[34] When the new Progressive Party declined to run a candidate in his state senate district, Coolidge won reelection against his Democratic opponent by an increased margin.[34]

Do the day's work. If it is to protect the rights of the weak, whoever objects, do it. If it is to help a powerful corporation better to serve the people, whatever the opposition, do that. Expect to be called a stand-patter, but don't be a stand-patter. Expect to be called a demagogue, but don't be a demagogue. Don't hesitate to be as revolutionary as science. Don't hesitate to be as reactionary as the multiplication table. Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong. Don't hurry to legislate. Give the administration a chance to catch up with legislation.
Have Faith in Massachusetts as delivered by Calvin Coolidge to the Massachusetts State Senate, 1914.[35]

In the 1913 session, Coolidge enjoyed renowned success in arduously navigating to passage the Western Trolley Act, which connected Northampton with a dozen similar industrial communities in western Massachusetts.[36] Coolidge intended to retire after his second term as was the custom, but when the President of the State Senate, Levi H. Greenwood, considered running for Lieutenant Governor, Coolidge decided to run again for the Senate in the hopes of being elected as its presiding officer.[37] Although Greenwood later decided to run for reelection to the Senate, he was defeated primarily due to his opposition to women's suffrage; Coolidge was in favor of the women's vote, won his own re-election and with Crane's help, assumed the presidency of a closely divided Senate.[38] After his election in January 1914, Coolidge delivered a published and frequently quoted speech entitled Have Faith in Massachusetts, which summarized his philosophy of government.[35]

Coolidge's speech was well received, and he attracted some admirers on its account;[39] towards the end of the term, many of them were proposing his name for nomination to lieutenant governor. After winning reelection to the Senate by an increased margin in the 1914 elections, Coolidge was reelected unanimously to be President of the Senate.[40] Coolidge's supporters, led by fellow Amherst alumnus Frank Stearns, encouraged him again to run for lieutenant governor.[41] Stearns, an executive with the Boston department store R. H. Stearns, became another key ally, and began a publicity campaign on Coolidge's behalf before he announced his candidacy at the end of the 1915 legislative session.[42]

Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Massachusetts

Calvin and Grace Coolidge, about 1918

Coolidge entered the primary election for lieutenant governor and was nominated to run alongside gubernatorial candidate Samuel W. McCall. Coolidge was the leading vote-getter in the Republican primary, and balanced the Republican ticket by adding a western presence to McCall's eastern base of support.[43] McCall and Coolidge won the 1915 election to their respective one-year terms, with Coolidge defeating his opponent by more than 50,000 votes.[44]

In Massachusetts, the lieutenant governor does not preside over the state Senate, as is the case in many other states; nevertheless, as lieutenant governor, Coolidge was a deputy governor functioning as administrative inspector and was a member of the governor's council. He was also chairman of the finance committee and the pardons committee.[45] As a full-time elected official, Coolidge discontinued his law practice in 1916, though his family continued to live in Northampton.[46] McCall and Coolidge were both reelected in 1916 and again in 1917. When McCall decided that he would not stand for a fourth term, Coolidge announced his intention to run for governor.[47]

1918 election

Coolidge was unopposed for the Republican nomination for Governor of Massachusetts in 1918. He and his running mate, Channing Cox, a Boston lawyer and Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, ran on the previous administration's record: fiscal conservatism, a vague opposition to Prohibition, support for women's suffrage, and support for American involvement in World War I.[48] The issue of the war proved divisive, especially among Irish and German Americans.[49] Coolidge was elected by a margin of 16,773 votes over his opponent, Richard H. Long, in the smallest margin of victory of any of his statewide campaigns.[50]

Boston Police Strike

In 1919, in reaction to a plan of the policemen of the Boston Police Department to register with a union, Police Commissioner Edwin U. Curtis announced that such an act would not be tolerated. In August of that year, the American Federation of Labor issued a charter to the Boston Police Union.[51] Curtis declared the union's leaders were guilty of insubordination and would be relieved of duty, but indicated he would cancel their suspension if the union was dissolved by September 4.[52] The mayor of Boston, Andrew Peters, convinced Curtis to delay his action for a few days, but with no results, and Curtis suspended the union leaders on September 8.[53] The following day, about three-quarters of the policemen in Boston went on strike.[54][lower-alpha 3] Coolidge, tacitly but fully in support of Curtis' position, closely monitored the situation but initially deferred to the local authorities. He anticipated that only a resulting measure of lawlessness could sufficiently prompt the public to understand and appreciate the controlling principle – that a policeman does not strike. That night and the next, there was sporadic violence and rioting in the unruly city.[55] Peters, concerned about sympathy strikes by the firemen and others, called up some units of the Massachusetts National Guard stationed in the Boston area pursuant to an old and obscure legal authority, and relieved Curtis of duty.[56]

"Your assertion that the Commissioner was wrong cannot justify the wrong of leaving the city unguarded. That furnished the opportunity; the criminal element furnished the action. There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, any time. ... I am equally determined to defend the sovereignty of Massachusetts and to maintain the authority and jurisdiction over her public officers where it has been placed by the Constitution and laws of her people."
Telegram from Governor Calvin Coolidge to Samuel Gompers September 14, 1919.[57]

Coolidge, sensing the severity of circumstances were then in need of his intervention, conferred with Crane's operative, William Butler, and then acted.[58] He called up more units of the National Guard, restored Curtis to office, and took personal control of the police force.[59] Curtis proclaimed that all of the strikers were fired from their jobs, and Coolidge called for a new police force to be recruited.[60] That night Coolidge received a telegram from AFL leader Samuel Gompers. "Whatever disorder has occurred", Gompers wrote, "is due to Curtis's order in which the right of the policemen has been denied…"[61] Coolidge publicly answered Gompers's telegram, denying any justification whatsoever for the strike – and his response launched him into the national consciousness.[61] Newspapers across the nation picked up on Coolidge's statement and he became the newest hero to opponents of the strike. In the midst of the First Red Scare, many Americans were terrified of the spread of communist revolution, like those that had taken place in Russia, Hungary, and Germany. While Coolidge had lost some friends among organized labor, conservatives across the nation had seen a rising star.[62] Although he usually acted with deliberation, the Boston police strike gave him a national reputation as a decisive leader, and as a strict enforcer of law and order.

1919 election

Coolidge inspects militia in Boston police strike

Coolidge and Cox were renominated for their respective offices in 1919. By this time Coolidge's supporters (especially Stearns) had publicized his actions in the Police Strike around the state and the nation and some of Coolidge's speeches were published in book form.[35] He faced the same opponent as in 1918, Richard Long, but this time Coolidge defeated him by 125,101 votes, more than seven times his margin of victory from a year earlier.[lower-alpha 4] His actions in the police strike, combined with the massive electoral victory, led to suggestions that Coolidge run for president in 1920.[64]

Legislation and vetoes as governor



Vice presidency

1920 election

At the 1920 Republican National Convention, most of the delegates were selected by state party conventions, not primaries. As such, the field was divided among many local favorites.[69] Coolidge was one such candidate, and while he placed as high as sixth in the voting, the powerful party bosses running the convention, primarily the party's U.S. Senators, never considered him seriously.[70] After ten ballots, the bosses and then the delegates settled on Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio as their nominee for president.[71] When the time came to select a vice presidential nominee, the bosses also made and announced their decision on whom they wanted – Sen. Irvine Lenroot of Wisconsin – and then prematurely departed after his name was put forth, relying on the rank and file to confirm their decision. A delegate from Oregon, Wallace McCamant, having read Have Faith in Massachusetts, proposed Coolidge for vice president instead. The suggestion caught on quickly with the masses starving for an act of independence from the absent bosses, and Coolidge was unexpectedly nominated.[72]

The Democrats nominated another Ohioan, James M. Cox, for president and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, for vice president. The question of the United States joining the League of Nations was a major issue in the campaign, as was the unfinished legacy of Progressivism.[73] Harding ran a "front-porch" campaign from his home in Marion, Ohio, but Coolidge took to the campaign trail in the Upper South, New York, and New England – his audiences carefully limited to those familiar with Coolidge and those placing a premium upon concise and short speeches.[74] On November 2, 1920, Harding and Coolidge were victorious in a landslide, winning more than 60 percent of the popular vote, including every state outside the South.[73] They also won in Tennessee, the first time a Republican ticket had won a Southern state since Reconstruction.[73]

"Silent Cal"

President Harding and Vice President Coolidge and their wives

The U.S. vice presidency did not carry many official duties, but Coolidge was invited by President Harding to attend cabinet meetings, making him the first vice president to do so.[75] He gave a number of unremarkable speeches around the country.[76]

As the U.S. vice president, Coolidge and his vivacious wife Grace were invited to quite a few parties, where the legend of "Silent Cal" was born. It is from this time that most of the jokes and anecdotes involving Coolidge originate. Although Coolidge was known to be a skilled and effective public speaker, in private he was a man of few words and was commonly referred to as "Silent Cal". A possibly apocryphal story has it that a matron, seated next to him at a dinner, said to him, "I made a bet today that I could get more than two words out of you." He replied, "You lose."[77] Dorothy Parker, upon learning that Coolidge had died, reportedly remarked, "How can they tell?"[78] Coolidge often seemed uncomfortable among fashionable Washington society; when asked why he continued to attend so many of their dinner parties, he replied, "Got to eat somewhere."[79] Alice Roosevelt Longworth, a leading Republican wit, underscored Coolidge's silence and his dour personality: "When he wished he were elsewhere, he pursed his lips, folded his arms, and said nothing. He looked then precisely as though he had been weaned on a pickle."[80]

As president, Coolidge's reputation as a quiet man continued. "The words of a President have an enormous weight," he would later write, "and ought not to be used indiscriminately."[81] Coolidge was aware of his stiff reputation; indeed, he cultivated it. "I think the American people want a solemn ass as a President," he once told Ethel Barrymore, "and I think I will go along with them."[82] Some historians suggest that Coolidge's image was created deliberately as a campaign tactic,[83] while others believe his withdrawn and quiet behavior to be natural, deepening after the death of his son in 1924.[84]


On August 2, 1923, President Harding died unexpectedly in San Francisco while on a speaking tour of the western United States. Vice President Coolidge was in Vermont visiting his family home, which had neither electricity nor a telephone, when he received word by messenger of Harding's death.[85] The new president dressed, said a prayer, and came downstairs to greet the reporters who had assembled.[85] His father, a notary public and justice of the peace, administered the oath of office in the family's parlor by the light of a kerosene lamp at 2:47 a.m. on August 3, 1923; President Coolidge then went back to bed.

Coolidge returned to Washington the next day, and was sworn in again by Justice Adolph A. Hoehling Jr. of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, to forestall any questions about the authority of a state official to administer a federal oath.[86] This second oath-taking remained a secret until it was revealed by Harry M. Daugherty in 1932, and confirmed by Hoehling.[87] When Hoehling confirmed Daugherty's story, he indicated that Daugherty, then serving as United States Attorney General, asked him to administer the oath without fanfare at the Willard Hotel.[87] According to Hoehling, he did not question Daugherty's reason for requesting a second oath-taking but assumed it was to resolve any doubt about whether the first swearing-in was valid.[87]



Coolidge addressed Congress when it reconvened on December 6, 1923, giving a speech that supported many of Harding's policies, including Harding's formal budgeting process, the enforcement of immigration restrictions and arbitration of coal strikes ongoing in Pennsylvania.[91] Coolidge's speech was the first presidential speech to be broadcast over the radio.[92] The Washington Naval Treaty was proclaimed just one month into Coolidge's term, and was generally well received in the country.[93] In May 1924, the World War I veterans' World War Adjusted Compensation Act or "Bonus Bill" was passed over his veto.[94] Coolidge signed the Immigration Act later that year, which was aimed at restricting southern and eastern European immigration, but appended a signing statement expressing his unhappiness with the bill's specific exclusion of Japanese immigrants.[95] Just before the Republican Convention began, Coolidge signed into law the Revenue Act of 1924, which reduced the top marginal tax rate from 58% to 46%, as well as personal income tax rates across the board, increased the estate tax and bolstered it with a new gift tax.[96]


1924 election

1924 electoral vote results

The Republican Convention was held on June 10–12, 1924, in Cleveland, Ohio; Coolidge was nominated on the first ballot.[100] The convention nominated Frank Lowden of Illinois for vice president on the second ballot, but he declined; former Brigadier General Charles G. Dawes was nominated on the third ballot and accepted.[100]


After the conventions and the death of his younger son Calvin, Coolidge became withdrawn; he later said that "when he [the son] died, the power and glory of the Presidency went with him."[102] Even as he mourned, Coolidge ran his standard campaign, not mentioning his opponents by name or maligning them, and delivering speeches on his theory of government, including several that were broadcast over radio.[103] It was the most subdued campaign since 1896, partly because of Coolidge's grief, but also because of his naturally non-confrontational style.[104] The other candidates campaigned in a more modern fashion, but despite the split in the Republican party, the results were similar to those of 1920. Coolidge and Dawes won every state outside the South except Wisconsin, La Follette's home state. Coolidge won the election with 382 electoral votes and the popular vote by 2.5 million over his opponents' combined total.[105]

Industry and trade

it is probable that a press which maintains an intimate touch with the business currents of the nation is likely to be more reliable than it would be if it were a stranger to these influences. After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world. (emphasis added)
President Calvin Coolidge's address to the American Society of Newspaper Editors, Washington D.C., January 25, 1925.[106]

During Coolidge's presidency, the United States experienced a period of rapid economic growth known as the "Roaring Twenties." He left the administration's industrial policy in the hands of his activist Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, who energetically used government auspices to promote business efficiency and develop airlines and radio.[107] Coolidge disdained regulation, and demonstrated this by appointing commissioners to the Federal Trade Commission and the Interstate Commerce Commission who did little to restrict the activities of businesses under their jurisdiction.[108] The regulatory state under Coolidge was, as one biographer described it, "thin to the point of invisibility."[109]


Taxation and government spending

Coolidge adopted the taxation policies of his Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, who advocated "scientific taxation" — the notion that lowering taxes will increase, rather than decrease, government receipts.[112] Congress agreed, and tax rates were reduced in Coolidge's term.[112] In addition to federal tax cuts, Coolidge proposed reductions in federal expenditures and retiring of the federal debt.[113] Coolidge's ideas were shared by the Republicans in Congress, and in 1924, Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1924, which reduced income tax rates and eliminated all income taxation for some two million people.[113] They reduced taxes again by passing the Revenue Acts of 1926 and 1928, all the while continuing to keep spending down so as to reduce the overall federal debt.[114] By 1927, only the wealthiest 2% of taxpayers paid any federal income tax.[114] Federal spending remained flat during Coolidge's administration, allowing one-fourth of the federal debt to be retired in total. State and local governments saw considerable growth, however, surpassing the federal budget in 1927.[115]

Opposition to farm subsidies

Coolidge with his vice president, Charles G. Dawes

Perhaps the most contentious issue of Coolidge's presidency was relief for farmers. Some in Congress proposed a bill designed to fight falling agricultural prices by allowing the federal government to purchase crops to sell abroad at lower prices.[116] Agriculture Secretary Henry C. Wallace and other administration officials favored the bill when it was introduced in 1924, but rising prices convinced many in Congress that the bill was unnecessary, and it was defeated just before the elections that year.[117] In 1926, with farm prices falling once more, Senator Charles L. McNary and Representative Gilbert N. Haugen—both Republicans—proposed the McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill. The bill proposed a federal farm board that would purchase surplus production in high-yield years and hold it (when feasible) for later sale or sell it abroad.[118] Coolidge opposed McNary-Haugen, declaring that agriculture must stand "on an independent business basis," and said that "government control cannot be divorced from political control."[118] Instead of manipulating prices, he favored instead Herbert Hoover's proposal to increase profitability by modernizing agriculture. Secretary Mellon wrote a letter denouncing the McNary-Haugen measure as unsound and likely to cause inflation, and it was defeated.[119]

After McNary-Haugen's defeat, Coolidge supported a less radical measure, the Curtis-Crisp Act, which would have created a federal board to lend money to farm co-operatives in times of surplus; the bill did not pass.[119] In February 1927, Congress took up the McNary-Haugen bill again, this time narrowly passing it, and Coolidge vetoed it.[120] In his veto message, he expressed the belief that the bill would do nothing to help farmers, benefiting only exporters and expanding the federal bureaucracy.[121] Congress did not override the veto, but it passed the bill again in May 1928 by an increased majority; again, Coolidge vetoed it.[120] "Farmers never have made much money," said Coolidge, the Vermont farmer's son. "I do not believe we can do much about it."[122]

Flood control

Coolidge has often been criticized for his actions during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the worst natural disaster to hit the Gulf Coast until Hurricane Katrina in 2005.[123] Although he did eventually name Secretary Hoover to a commission in charge of flood relief, scholars argue that Coolidge overall showed a lack of interest in federal flood control.[123] Coolidge did not believe that personally visiting the region after the floods would accomplish anything, and that it would be seen as mere political grandstanding. He also did not want to incur the federal spending that flood control would require; he believed property owners should bear much of the cost.[124] On the other hand, Congress wanted a bill that would place the federal government completely in charge of flood mitigation.[125] When Congress passed a compromise measure in 1928, Coolidge declined to take credit for it and signed the bill in private on May 15.[126]

Civil rights

Osage men with Coolidge after he signed the bill granting Native Americans U.S. citizenship.



Coolidge repeatedly called for laws to make lynching a federal crime (it was already a state crime, though not always enforced). Congress refused to pass any such legislation. On June 2, 1924, Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act, which granted U.S. citizenship to all American Indians living on reservations. (Those off reservations had long been citizens.) [130] On June 6, 1924, Coolidge delivered a commencement address at historically black, non-segregated Howard University, in which he thanked and commended African-Americans for their rapid advances in education and their contributions to U.S. society over the years, as well as their eagerness to render their services as soldiers in the World War, all while being faced with discrimination and prejudices at home.[131]


Foreign policy

Official portrait of Calvin Coolidge

Coolidge was neither well versed in nor very interested in world affairs.[133] His focus was directed mainly at American business, especially pertaining to trade, and "Maintaining the Status Quo." Although not an isolationist, he was reluctant to enter into foreign alliances.[134]

Coolidge considered the 1920 Republican victory as a rejection of the Wilsonian position that the United States should join the League of Nations.[135] While not completely opposed to the idea, Coolidge believed the League, as then constituted, did not serve American interests, and he did not advocate U.S. membership.[135] He spoke in favor of the United States joining the Permanent Court of International Justice (World Court), provided that the nation would not be bound by advisory decisions.[136] In 1926, the Senate eventually approved joining the Court (with reservations).[137] The League of Nations accepted the reservations, but it suggested some modifications of its own.[138] The Senate failed to act and so the United States did not join the World Court.[138]

Coolidge authorized the Dawes Plan, a financial plan by Charles Dawes, to provide Germany partial relief from its reparations obligations from World War I. The plan was initially provided stimulus for the German economy.[139][140] Additionally, Coolidge attempted to pursue further curbs on naval strength following the early successes of Harding's Washington Naval Conference by sponsoring the Geneva Naval Conference in 1927, which failed owing to a French and Italian boycott and ultimate failure of Great Britain and the United States to agree on cruiser tonnages. As a result, the conference was a failure and Congress eventually authorized for increased American naval spending in 1928.[139] The Kellogg–Briand Pact of 1928, named for Coolidge's Secretary of State, Frank B. Kellogg, and French foreign minister Aristide Briand, was also a key peacekeeping initiative. The treaty, ratified in 1929, committed signatories—the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan—to "renounce war, as an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another."[141] The treaty did not achieve its intended result—the outlawry of war—but it did provide the founding principle for international law after World War II.[142] Coolidge also continued the previous administration's policy of withholding recognition of the Soviet Union.[143]



To extend an olive branch to Latin American leaders embittered over America's interventionist policies in Central America and the Caribbean,[148] Coolidge led the U.S. delegation to the Sixth International Conference of American States, January 15–17, 1928, in Havana, Cuba, the only international trip Coolidge made during his presidency.[149] He would be the last sitting American president to visit Cuba until Barack Obama in 2016.[150]


1928 election

Collection of video clips of President Coolidge



Coolidge's cabinet in 1924, outside the White House
Back row, left to right, James J. Davis, Henry C. Wallace, Herbert Hoover, Hubert Work


Perhaps the most powerful person in Coolidge's Cabinet was Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon, who controlled the administration's financial policies and was regarded by many, including House Minority Leader John Nance Garner, as more powerful than Coolidge himself.[158] Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover also held a prominent place in Coolidge's Cabinet, in part because Coolidge found value in Hoover's ability to win positive publicity with his pro-business proposals.[159] Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes directed Coolidge's foreign policy until he resigned in 1925 following Coolidge's re-election. He was replaced by Frank B. Kellogg, who had previously served as a Senator and as the ambassador to Great Britain. Coolidge made two other appointments following his re-election, with William M. Jardine taking the position of Secretary of Agriculture and John G. Sargent becoming Attorney General.[160] Coolidge did not have a vice president during his first term, but Charles Dawes became vice president during Coolidge's second term, and Dawes and Coolidge clashed over farm policy and other issues.[161]

Judicial appointments

Coolidge appointed Harlan Fiske Stone Attorney General and then Supreme Court Justice

Coolidge appointed one justice to the Supreme Court of the United States, Harlan Fiske Stone in 1925. Stone was Coolidge's fellow Amherst alumnus, a Wall Street lawyer and conservative Republican. Stone was serving as dean of Columbia Law School when Coolidge appointed him to be attorney general in 1924 to restore the reputation tarnished by Harding's Attorney General, Harry M. Daugherty.[162] It does not appear that Coolidge considered appointing anyone other than Stone, although Stone himself had urged Coolidge to appoint Benjamin N. Cardozo.[163] Stone proved to be a firm believer in judicial restraint and was regarded as one of the court's three liberal justices who would often vote to uphold New Deal legislation.[164] President Franklin D. Roosevelt later appointed Stone to be chief justice.


Retirement and death

Coolidge addressing a crowd at Arlington National Cemetery's Roman style Memorial Amphitheater in 1924.

After his presidency, Coolidge retired to the modest rented house on residential Massasoit Street in Northampton before moving to a more spacious home, "The Beeches."[166] He kept a Hacker runabout boat on the Connecticut River and was often observed on the water by local boating enthusiasts. During this period, he also served as chairman of the Non-Partisan Railroad Commission, an entity created by several banks and corporations to survey the country's long-term transportation needs and make recommendations for improvements. He was the honorary president of the American Foundation for the Blind, a director of New York Life Insurance Company, president of the American Antiquarian Society, and a trustee of Amherst College.[167]

Coolidge published his autobiography in 1929 and wrote a syndicated newspaper column, "Calvin Coolidge Says," from 1930 to 1931.[168] Faced with looming defeat in the 1932 presidential election, some Republicans spoke of rejecting Herbert Hoover as their party's nominee, and instead drafting Coolidge to run, but the former president made it clear that he was not interested in running again, and that he would publicly repudiate any effort to draft him, should it come about.[169] Hoover was renominated, and Coolidge made several radio addresses in support of him. Hoover then lost the general election to Coolidge's 1920 vice presidential Democratic opponent Franklin D. Roosevelt in a landslide.[170]

Coolidge died suddenly from coronary thrombosis at "The Beeches," at 12:45 p.m., January 5, 1933.[171] Shortly before his death, Coolidge confided to an old friend: "I feel I no longer fit in with these times."[172] 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.

Radio, film, and commemorations

Coolidge, reporters, and cameramen

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.[173] Coolidge's second inauguration was the first presidential inauguration broadcast on radio. On December 6, 1923, his speech to Congress was broadcast on radio,[174] the first presidential radio address.[175] 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 DeForest, filmed Coolidge on the White House lawn, making Coolidge the first president to appear in a sound film. The title of the DeForest film was President Coolidge, Taken on the White House Grounds.[176][177] 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 the Congressional Medal of Honor,[178] an event captured on film.[179]

See also


  1. Coolidge was Vice President under Warren G. Harding and became President upon Harding's death on August 2, 1923. As this was prior to the adoption of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment in 1967, a vacancy in the office of Vice President was not filled until the next ensuing election and inauguration.
  2. See also the main article, Lawrence textile strike, for a full description.
  3. The exact total was 1,117 out of 1,544[54]
  4. The tally was Coolidge 317,774, Long 192,673.[63]


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  2. Katz, Mark (February 20, 2012). "Calvin Coolidge's Bone-Dry Humor Is a Lesson in Laughs for Candidates". The Daily Beast. Retrieved January 30, 2019.
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  4. Fuess 1940, p. 500.
  5. Sobel 1998a, pp. 12–13; Greenberg 2006, pp. 1–7.
  6. Sobel 1998a, p. 22.
  7. Fuess 1940, p. 17; McCoy 1967, p. 5; White 1938, p. 11.
  8. Fuess 1940, p. 12.
  9. Fuess 1940, p. 7.
  10. Sobel 1998a, p. 24.
  11. Roberts 1995, p. 199.
  12. White 1938, pp. 43–44.
  13. Shlaes 2013, pp. 66–68.
  14. Fuess 1940, pp. 74–81; McCoy 1967, pp. 22–26.
  15. Bryson 2013, p. 187.
  16. White 1938, p. 61.
  17. Martin 2000.
  18. Shlaes 2013, p. 91.
  19. 1 2 Sobel 1998a, pp. 49–51.
  20. White 1938, pp. 51–53.
  21. Fuess 1940, p. 83.
  22. 1 2 Fuess 1940, pp. 84–85.
  23. 1 2 3 McCoy 1967, p. 29.
  24. Sobel 1998a, p. 61.
  25. Sobel 1998a, p. 62; Fuess 1940, p. 99.
  26. Sobel 1998a, pp. 63–66.
  27. White 1938, pp. 99–102.
  28. Sobel 1998a, pp. 68–69.
  29. Sobel 1998a, p. 72.
  30. Fuess 1940, pp. 106–07; Sobel 1998a, p. 74.
  31. Fuess 1940, p. 108.
  32. Sobel 1998a, p. 76.
  33. Fuess 1940, pp. 110–11; McCoy 1967, pp. 45–46.
  34. 1 2 Sobel 1998a, pp. 79–80; Fuess 1940, p. 111.
  35. 1 2 3 Coolidge 1919, pp. 2–9.
  36. White 1938, p. 105.
  37. Fuess 1940, pp. 114–15.
  38. White 1938, p. 111.
  39. Sobel 1998a, pp. 90–92.
  40. Sobel 1998a, p. 90; Fuess 1940, p. 124.
  41. Sobel 1998a, pp. 92–98; Fuess 1940, pp. 133–36.
  42. White 1938, p. 117.
  43. Fuess 1940, pp. 139–42.
  44. Fuess 1940, p. 145.
  45. White 1938, p. 125.
  46. Fuess 1940, pp. 151–52.
  47. Sobel 1998a, pp. 107–10.
  48. Sobel 1998a, p. 111; McCoy 1967, pp. 75–76.
  49. Sobel 1998a, p. 112.
  50. Sobel 1998a, p. 115; McCoy 1967, p. 76.
  51. Russell 1975, pp. 77–79; Sobel 1998a, p. 129.
  52. Russell 1975, pp. 86–87.
  53. Russell 1975, pp. 111–13; Sobel 1998a, pp. 133–36.
  54. 1 2 Russell 1975, p. 113.
  55. White 1938, pp. 162–64.
  56. Russell 1975, p. 120.
  57. Coolidge 1919, pp. 222–24.
  58. White 1938, pp. 164–65.
  59. Sobel 1998a, p. 142.
  60. Russell 1975, pp. 182–83.
  61. 1 2 Sobel 1998a, p. 143.
  62. Shlaes 2013, pp. 174–79.
  63. Fuess 1940, p. 238.
  64. Fuess 1940, pp. 239–43; McCoy 1967, pp. 102–13.
  65. Sobel 1998a, p. 117; Fuess 1940, p. 195.
  66. Fuess 1940, p. 186.
  67. Fuess 1940, p. 187; McCoy 1967, p. 81.
  68. Fuess 1940, pp. 187–88.
  69. Sobel 1998a, pp. 152–53.
  70. White 1938, pp. 198–99.
  71. Fuess 1940, pp. 259–60.
  72. White 1938, pp. 211–13.
  73. 1 2 3 Sobel 1998a, pp. 204–12.
  74. White 1938, pp. 217–219.
  75. Sobel 1998a, pp. 210–11.
  76. Sobel 1998a, p. 219; McCoy 1967, p. 136.
  77. Hannaford, p. 169.
  78. Greenberg 2006, p. 9.
  79. Sobel 1998a, p. 217.
  80. Cordery 2008, p. 302.
  81. Sobel 1998a, p. 243.
  82. Greenberg 2006, p. 60.
  83. Buckley, pp. 593–626.
  84. Gilbert, pp. 87–109.
  85. 1 2 Fuess 1940, pp. 308–09.
  86. Fuess 1940, pp. 310–15.
  87. 1 2 3 "Confirms Daugherty's Story of Coolidge's Second Oath".
  88. Sobel 1998a, pp. 226–28; Fuess 1940, pp. 303–05; Ferrell 1998, pp. 43–51.
  89. White 1938, p. 265.
  90. White 1938, pp. 272–77.
  91. Fuess 1940, pp. 328–29; Sobel 1998a, pp. 248–49.
  92. Shlaes 2013, p. 271.
  93. 1 2 Fuess 1940, pp. 320–22.
  94. Fuess 1940, p. 341.
  95. Fuess 1940, p. 342; Sobel 1998a, p. 269.
  96. Sobel 1998a, pp. 278–79.
  97. Madsen 2015, p. 168.
  98. Kappler 1929.
  99. Landry 2016.
  100. 1 2 Fuess 1940, pp. 345–46.
  101. Sobel 1998a, p. 300.
  102. Coolidge 1929, p. 190.
  103. Sobel 1998a, pp. 300–01.
  104. Sobel 1998a, pp. 302–03.
  105. Fuess 1940, p. 354.
  106. Shlaes 2013, p. 324.
  107. Ferrell 1998, pp. 64–65.
  108. Ferrell 1998, pp. 66–72; Sobel 1998a, p. 318.
  109. Ferrell 1998, p. 72.
  110. Sobel 1998b.
  111. Greenberg 2006, p. 47; Ferrell 1998, p. 62.
  112. 1 2 Sobel 1998a, pp. 310–11; Greenberg 2006, pp. 127–29.
  113. 1 2 Sobel 1998a, pp. 310–11; Fuess 1940, pp. 382–83.
  114. 1 2 Ferrell 1998, p. 170.
  115. Ferrell 1998, p. 174.
  116. Ferrell 1998, p. 84; McCoy 1967, pp. 234–35.
  117. McCoy 1967, p. 235.
  118. 1 2 Fuess 1940, pp. 383–84.
  119. 1 2 Sobel 1998a, p. 327.
  120. 1 2 Fuess 1940, p. 388; Ferrell 1998, p. 93.
  121. Sobel 1998a, p. 331.
  122. Ferrell 1998, p. 86.
  123. 1 2 Sobel 1998a, p. 315; Barry 1997, pp. 286–87; Greenberg 2006, pp. 132–35.
  124. McCoy 1967, pp. 330–31.
  125. Barry 1997, pp. 372–74.
  126. Greenberg 2006, p. 135.
  127. Roberts 2014, p. 209.
  128. Sobel 1998a, p. 250; McCoy 1967, pp. 328–29.
  129. s:Calvin Coolidge's First State of the Union Address
  130. Deloria 1992, p. 91.
  131. Coolidge 1926, pp. 31–36.
  132. Coolidge 1926, pp. 159–56.
  133. "Calvin Coolidge: Foreign Affairs | Miller Center". Miller Center. 2016-10-04. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
  134. Sobel 1998a, p. 342.
  135. 1 2 McCoy 1967, pp. 184–85.
  136. McCoy 1967, p. 360.
  137. McCoy 1967, p. 363.
  138. 1 2 Greenberg 2006, pp. 114–16.
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  140. "Dawes Plan | World War I reparations". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
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  142. McCoy 1967, pp. 380–81; Greenberg 2006, pp. 123–24.
  143. McCoy 1967, p. 181.
  144. 1 2 3 "Foreign Policy". Retrieved 2018-10-28.
  145. Sobel 1998a, p. 349.
  146. McCoy 1967, pp. 178–79.
  147. Fuess 1940, pp. 414–17; Ferrell 1998, pp. 122–23.
  148. Miller Center 2016.
  149. Historian 2018.
  150. Kim 2014.
  151. "The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System". Saint Lawrence Seaway. 2014-03-20. Retrieved 2018-10-28.
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  153. White 1938, p. 361.
  154. Coolidge 1929, p. 239.
  155. Ferrell 1998, p. 195.
  156. Clemens & Daggett 1945, p. 147-63.
  157. Greenberg 2006, pp. 48–49.
  158. Rusnak 1983, pp. 270–71.
  159. Polsky & Tkacheva 2002, pp. 224–27.
  160. Greenberg 2006, pp. 111–12.
  161. Senate Historian 2014.
  162. Fuess 1940, p. 364.
  163. Handler 1995, pp. 113–122.
  164. Galston, passim.
  165. Freeman 2002, p. 216.
  166. Sobel 1998a, p. 407.
  167. Fuess 1940, pp. 450–55.
  168. Sobel 1998a, p. 403; Ferrell 1998, pp. 201–02.
  169. Fuess 1940, pp. 457–59; Greenberg 2006, p. 153.
  170. Fuess 1940, p. 460.
  171. Greenberg 2006, pp. 154–55.
  172. Sobel 1998a, p. 410.
  173. Greenberg 2006, p. 7.
  174. Sobel 1998a, p. 252.
  175. Williams, Emrys (1967). "The Presidential address". Radio and Electronic Engineer. 33 (1): 1. doi:10.1049/ree.1967.0001. ISSN 0033-7722.
  176. de Forest 1924.
  177. Mashon, Mike (2016-11-03). "Silent Cal, Not So Silent | Now See Hear!". Retrieved 2019-02-09.
  178. Staff (May 23, 1927). "Medal of Honor will be awarded to Lindbergh". UPI. Retrieved 2019-02-09.
  179. Unknown (1927). "Lindbergh honored by President Calvin Coolidge". Periscope Film. Retrieved 2019-02-09.

Works cited

External video
Q&A interview with Amity Shlaes on Coolidge, February 10, 2013, C-SPAN
Booknotes interview with Robert Sobel on Coolidge: An American Enigma, August 30, 1998, C-SPAN

About Coolidge and his era

By Coolidge

Further reading

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