Calvin Coolidge to work jointly with Edward T. Clark, a Massachusetts Republican organizer whom he retained from his vice-presidential staff, as Secretaries to the President (a position equivalent to the modern White House Chief of Staff). 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. 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
Richard B. Coolidge Richard B. Coolidge Richard Bradford Coolidge (September 14, 1879 – January 18, 1957) was a Massachusetts politician. Coolidge was born in the Deering Center area of Portland, Maine. He was brother of Massachuestts politician and Lieutenant Governor Arthur W. Coolidge. He was the fourth cousin of President Calvin Coolidge. Coolidge graduated from Tufts College in 1902 and served as a trustee of the school from 1924 to 1944 and from 1953 to 1957. He attended Harvard Law School. Coolidge practiced in the law firm "French and Curtiss." From 1920 to 1922, Coolidge represented Medford and Winchester in the Massachusetts House