Presidency of Calvin Coolidge Presidency of Calvin Coolidge The presidency of Calvin Coolidge began on August 2, 1923, when Calvin Coolidge became President of the United States upon the sudden death of Warren G. Harding, and ended on March 4, 1929. A member of the Republican Party, Coolidge had been Vice President of the United States for when he became the 30th President of the United States. Elected to a full four–year term in 1924, Coolidge gained a reputation as a small-government conservative. Coolidge was succeeded by Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover after the 1928 presidential election. Coolidge adeptly handled the aftermath of several
First inauguration of Calvin Coolidge homestead in Vermont, which did not have electricity or a telephone, when he received word by messenger of Harding's death. As the new president, Coolidge intended to take the oath of office and greet reporters who had assembled outside. He dressed in an upstairs bedroom, said a prayer, and came downstairs. In front of a small group of observers, including Coolidge's wife Grace and United States Representative Porter H. Dale, his father, John Calvin Coolidge Sr., a Vermont notary public and justice of the peace, administered the oath of office. The swearing in took place in John Coolidge's family parlor