Calvin Coolidge Frontpage
American President Frontpage
Jump to:
| Previous Section: A Life in Brief | Life Before the Presidency | Next Section: Campaigns and Elections |
He was born John Calvin Coolidge on Independence Day, July 4, 1872, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. He grew up helping his storekeeper father tend accounts, selling apples, and doing other chores around the store and at home on the family farm. As a boy, Coolidge had little ambition in life beyond hoping to follow his father as a good, honest small-town merchant.
A fair to average student in the Plymouth elementary school, he eventually managed to obtain entry to the prestigious Amherst College in nearby Amherst, Massachusetts, where he advanced from a mediocre student to a young man of promise. He graduated with honors and a 79 percent cumulative grade point average in 1895 -- racking up good to excellent grades in his last two years. Only practicing his wit on friends and foes and the campus Republican Club attracted Coolidge's attention until his senior year when he joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. For the rest of his life, Coolidge was a "fraternity man" -- loyal and committed to his "chums." His senior essay, entitled "The Principles Fought for in the American Revolution," took first prize (much to his astonishment) in a national contest sponsored by the Sons of the American Revolution.
After college, he read law in a Northampton, Massachusetts law firm, passing the bar in the summer of 1897. He then opened a law office in Northampton and began participating in local Republican politics. Calvin's family had lived in Plymouth Notch for five generations, and everyone was surprised when he moved one hundred miles away to Northhampton.
Political Legacy and Involvement
Both Coolidge's mother, Victoria Josephine Moor Coolidge, a mystical and poetic woman, and younger sister, Abigail Gratia Coolidge, died while he was a teenager. Both of these tragedies caused him great sadness and contributed to his taciturn public image. His father, John Calvin Coolidge Sr., then married a local schoolteacher in 1891 -- a woman who grew very close to Calvin over the years. The senior Coolidge, a man of stern appearance and a pillar of the community, served six years in the Vermont House of Representatives, a term in the Vermont Senate, and in a variety of local offices from tax collector to peace officer. Known in the county and state as a prosperous but thrifty farmer and storekeeper, it is said that the elder Calvin's quiet nature and commitment to public service influenced younger Calvin greatly. So too did his prudence with money.
Beginning around 1900, Coolidge's work in the local Republican Club in Northhampton won him a spot on the City Council, appointment as city solicitor in 1900, election as county clerk in 1903, and the chairmanship of the local Republican party organization in 1904. He ran for and lost a bid for a seat on the Northampton School Board in 1905 -- the only loss he ever experienced at the polls. Two years later, he was elected to the state legislature. In 1910, the citizens of Northampton selected him as their mayor, and then he won a statewide race for the Massachusetts Senate in 1912 -- serving as senate president in 1914. Next, moving up the ladder of state politics, Coolidge became the lieutenant governor of the state, serving from 1916 to 1918.
Governor Coolidge
His narrow victory for Massachusetts Governor over Democrat Richard H. Long placed Coolidge in the national arena just in time to benefit from the Republican ascendancy, or return to national power, at the end of World War I. As governor, he won national attention when he called out the state's national guard to break a strike by Boston city police, exclaiming to the American Federation of Labor union leader Samuel Gompers, "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime." His blunt words and bold action contrasted with his fairly progressive agenda and overall avoidance of confrontation when possible. As governor, he supported a cost of living pay for public employees, limited the workweek for women and children to forty-eight hours, placed limits on outdoor advertising, and set up a state budgetary process -- all typical progressive measures.
While advancing in local politics, Calvin, aged thirty-three, had married Grace Anna Goodhue, aged twenty-six, on October 4, 1905. The two were wed at her parent's home in Burlington, Vermont. After graduating from the University of Vermont, she attended the Clarke Institute for the Deaf in Northampton, obtaining certification as an instructor for hearing-impaired students. Calvin first caught her eye one morning when she saw him through the open window of his boardinghouse in Northampton, standing in his underwear and wearing a hat while shaving. She thought that he looked ridiculous, laughed loud enough for him to notice her, and then turned away. He later said that he was wearing the hat to keep his uncombed hair out of his eyes while shaving. His marriage proposal in the summer of 1905 came in the form of a precise ultimatum: "I am going to be married to you." Despite her mother's objections, Grace loved the silent but blunt young lawyer and immediately consented.
Ascending to the White House
Calvin came to Chicago as his state's favorite-son candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1920, but he received only thirty-four votes on the first ballot at the convention. In the backroom deal that gave Warren G. Harding the presidential nod of party leaders, Coolidge was not among the names discussed for the second spot, and party leaders hoped to nominate Senator Irving Lenroot of Wisconsin. When Coolidge's name was entered into nomination, however, a stampede of support by rebellious delegates swept him onto the ticket. In the ensuing campaign, neither Harding nor Coolidge actively traveled the nation, in contrast to the Democratic Party candidate, James M. Cox, who traveled 22,000 miles while speaking to 2 million people. The election, a referendum on the Wilson administration, the Treaty of Versailles, and the League of Nations, gave the Republicans 61 percent of the vote. As vice president, Coolidge kept a low profile. He sat silently during cabinet meetings and seldom spoke in his role as president of the Senate.
Coolidge's father woke his vacationing son and daughter-in-law at the family home in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, on August 2, 1923, to tell them of Harding's death from a stroke. With no telephone in the house, Coolidge walked across town to a local store to phone Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, who urged Coolidge to take the oath of office immediately. He took a drink at the store, then walked back to his family home. There his father, a justice of the peace, administered the oath, and then Calvin Coolidge went back to bed as the thirtieth President of the United States.
A fair to average student in the Plymouth elementary school, he eventually managed to obtain entry to the prestigious Amherst College in nearby Amherst, Massachusetts, where he advanced from a mediocre student to a young man of promise. He graduated with honors and a 79 percent cumulative grade point average in 1895 -- racking up good to excellent grades in his last two years. Only practicing his wit on friends and foes and the campus Republican Club attracted Coolidge's attention until his senior year when he joined the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. For the rest of his life, Coolidge was a "fraternity man" -- loyal and committed to his "chums." His senior essay, entitled "The Principles Fought for in the American Revolution," took first prize (much to his astonishment) in a national contest sponsored by the Sons of the American Revolution.
After college, he read law in a Northampton, Massachusetts law firm, passing the bar in the summer of 1897. He then opened a law office in Northampton and began participating in local Republican politics. Calvin's family had lived in Plymouth Notch for five generations, and everyone was surprised when he moved one hundred miles away to Northhampton.
Political Legacy and Involvement
Both Coolidge's mother, Victoria Josephine Moor Coolidge, a mystical and poetic woman, and younger sister, Abigail Gratia Coolidge, died while he was a teenager. Both of these tragedies caused him great sadness and contributed to his taciturn public image. His father, John Calvin Coolidge Sr., then married a local schoolteacher in 1891 -- a woman who grew very close to Calvin over the years. The senior Coolidge, a man of stern appearance and a pillar of the community, served six years in the Vermont House of Representatives, a term in the Vermont Senate, and in a variety of local offices from tax collector to peace officer. Known in the county and state as a prosperous but thrifty farmer and storekeeper, it is said that the elder Calvin's quiet nature and commitment to public service influenced younger Calvin greatly. So too did his prudence with money.
Beginning around 1900, Coolidge's work in the local Republican Club in Northhampton won him a spot on the City Council, appointment as city solicitor in 1900, election as county clerk in 1903, and the chairmanship of the local Republican party organization in 1904. He ran for and lost a bid for a seat on the Northampton School Board in 1905 -- the only loss he ever experienced at the polls. Two years later, he was elected to the state legislature. In 1910, the citizens of Northampton selected him as their mayor, and then he won a statewide race for the Massachusetts Senate in 1912 -- serving as senate president in 1914. Next, moving up the ladder of state politics, Coolidge became the lieutenant governor of the state, serving from 1916 to 1918.
Governor Coolidge
His narrow victory for Massachusetts Governor over Democrat Richard H. Long placed Coolidge in the national arena just in time to benefit from the Republican ascendancy, or return to national power, at the end of World War I. As governor, he won national attention when he called out the state's national guard to break a strike by Boston city police, exclaiming to the American Federation of Labor union leader Samuel Gompers, "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime." His blunt words and bold action contrasted with his fairly progressive agenda and overall avoidance of confrontation when possible. As governor, he supported a cost of living pay for public employees, limited the workweek for women and children to forty-eight hours, placed limits on outdoor advertising, and set up a state budgetary process -- all typical progressive measures.
While advancing in local politics, Calvin, aged thirty-three, had married Grace Anna Goodhue, aged twenty-six, on October 4, 1905. The two were wed at her parent's home in Burlington, Vermont. After graduating from the University of Vermont, she attended the Clarke Institute for the Deaf in Northampton, obtaining certification as an instructor for hearing-impaired students. Calvin first caught her eye one morning when she saw him through the open window of his boardinghouse in Northampton, standing in his underwear and wearing a hat while shaving. She thought that he looked ridiculous, laughed loud enough for him to notice her, and then turned away. He later said that he was wearing the hat to keep his uncombed hair out of his eyes while shaving. His marriage proposal in the summer of 1905 came in the form of a precise ultimatum: "I am going to be married to you." Despite her mother's objections, Grace loved the silent but blunt young lawyer and immediately consented.
Ascending to the White House
Calvin came to Chicago as his state's favorite-son candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 1920, but he received only thirty-four votes on the first ballot at the convention. In the backroom deal that gave Warren G. Harding the presidential nod of party leaders, Coolidge was not among the names discussed for the second spot, and party leaders hoped to nominate Senator Irving Lenroot of Wisconsin. When Coolidge's name was entered into nomination, however, a stampede of support by rebellious delegates swept him onto the ticket. In the ensuing campaign, neither Harding nor Coolidge actively traveled the nation, in contrast to the Democratic Party candidate, James M. Cox, who traveled 22,000 miles while speaking to 2 million people. The election, a referendum on the Wilson administration, the Treaty of Versailles, and the League of Nations, gave the Republicans 61 percent of the vote. As vice president, Coolidge kept a low profile. He sat silently during cabinet meetings and seldom spoke in his role as president of the Senate.
Coolidge's father woke his vacationing son and daughter-in-law at the family home in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, on August 2, 1923, to tell them of Harding's death from a stroke. With no telephone in the house, Coolidge walked across town to a local store to phone Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes, who urged Coolidge to take the oath of office immediately. He took a drink at the store, then walked back to his family home. There his father, a justice of the peace, administered the oath, and then Calvin Coolidge went back to bed as the thirtieth President of the United States.