That he did represent the genius of the average is the most convincing proof of his strength'.Scholars have ranked Coolidge in the lower half of those presidents that they have assessed. He is praised by advocates of smaller government and laissez-faire economics, while supporters of an active central government generally view him less favorably, although most praise his stalwart support of racial equality. John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was born on July 4, 1872 in Plymouth Notch, Windsor County, Vermont, the only US 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). He signed into law a budget that kept the tax rates the same, while trimming $4 million from expenditures, thus allowing the state to retire some of its debt.Coolidge also wielded the veto pen as governor. 'Coolidge repeatedly called for laws to make  lynching a federal crime (it was already a state crime, though not always enforced).