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
SS President Coolidge between Japan and Britain deteriorated in 1940, "President Coolidge" helped to evacuate US citizens from Hong Kong. As Japanese aggression expanded, "President Coolidge" took part in evacuations from other parts of east Asia. In 1941 the threat of war increased and the US War Department began to use "President Coolidge" for occasional voyages to Honolulu and Manila. In June 1941 "President Coolidge" became a troopship, reinforcing garrisons in the Pacific. On December 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and on December 19 "President Coolidge" evacuated 125 critically injured naval patients from Hawaii, cared for by three hastily assigned Navy nurses