Evening star., 1933-01-05


Northampton, Mass.
ton aircraft carrier. Although the bill
encountered stern opposition, 1t flnally
was approved by Congress.
Another major Coolidge policy was
that of reduction of the high tax Sched-
ules that came with the war. Three
cuts were effected during his admins
tration. which relieved thousands o.
citizens of the burden of Federal levy,
in addition to sharply decreasing the
amounts paid into the Government by
the large corporations and big business
generally.
Long before he retired from Office
Mr.. Coolidge received numerous offers
to make professional and business con-
nections at the expiration Of his term,
but consistently declined to entertain
any of them. After he returned to
Northampton he engaged in literary
work temporarily, writing for magazines
the story of his administration and an
autobiography. About two months after
leaving the White House he made his
first business connection, when he &C
cepted election as member of the
board of directors of the New York Life
Insurance Co. He was chosen to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of Myron
T. Herrick, American Ambassador to
France.
Drawn Into Politics.
Mr.. Coolidge never had time to prove
to the world whether he would have
made great lawyer for he was drawn
almost imediately into politics, and with
few intervals that thereafter was his
life work.
On october 4, 1905, Mr.. Coolidge
married Miss Grace A. Goodhue OF
Burlington, VT, making home for his
bride in a two-family house in North
amptcn. They continued to occupy
that until Mr.. Coolidge became Vice
President.
Calvin Coolidge was born on indie
pendence day, July 4, 1872, in Ply
mouth. country village in the Yer.
mont hills. the son of John c. and
Victoria Moor Coolidge. He was de-
scended from John and Mary Coolidge,
who had settled in Watertown. Mass,
about 1880, and his ancestry ran
through long line of farmers who
lived in Massachusett- until his great
great-grandfather moved into Vermont
His father was the village storekeeper
as we'll as a farmer, and SO the son
had double training under his father
care, plowing and digging in the fields
and selling and figuring behind the
counter. Here were developed in him
the industry, frugality and self-reliance
which shaped the course of his life
His mother died when he was 13 and
four years later he lost his only sister
but a warm bond of sympathy devel-
oped between him and his stepmother
Between chores" on the farm and In
the store the future President attended
the ungraded school at Plymouth, q
single room with wood stove. After
ward he attended the Black River
Academy, at Ludlow, and the academy
at st. Johnsburg before going to Am
herSt College. He was keen student
but only in modest way did he enter
into the activities of college life.
Busy Future President.
During his senior year, in open COM
petition with students of all American
colleges, he won the first prize, gold
medal. for the best essay on the causes
of the Revolutionary War. He was
graduated in 1895, with the degree OF
A. B. and at the commencement was
Grove Orator. Had he had money
enough to go through law school that
fact might have changed his whole
career. AS it was he moved across the
Connecticut River to the nearby town
of Northampton, Mass, apd found a
position in the law Office OF Hammond
& Field. Within 90 months he was ad-
mitted to the bar and began practice.
They had two sons, John and Calvin
jr. The latter's death, which occurred
after brief illness during the sum-
mer OF 1924, was the first Of two bereave-
mentS in Mr.. Coolidge's family during
his occupancy Of the White House. Early
in 1926 his father died at his Vermont
home while his son was speeding from
Washington to his bedside.
Called Lucky Cal"
Mr.. Coolidge's training in public serv-
ice and, it might be said, for the presi.
dency, began when the latter thought
perhaps was farthest from his mind
Less than four years after he left col
lege he took his seat as a member oi
the Common Council Of Northampton
and later served two years as city
solicitor Next he was appointed city
clerk, but declined nomination to sue
ceed himself.
A year after his marriage he wa!
elected to the Massachusetts, House o.
Representatives and near the end o.
his second term was elected mayor o.
his home town. Another two years anc
he was back on Beacon Hill'' as 6
senator, to which Office he was re-
elected. 1t often has been said that
Mr.. Coolidge's public career was shaped
by series of political accidents" ano
because Of them he frequently was re-
ferred to as Lucky Cal"
One of these So-called accidents
occurred near the end of his second
term as senator. Levi H. Greenwood
who had been president of the Senate
was defeated for reelection because o.
a campaign against him by the suffra.
gistS, whom he had antagoniZed. Hear.
ing of Greenwoods defeat on election
night, Mr.. Coolidge took the earliest
train for Boston and by noon of the
next day had lined up enough party
leaders to insure him the presidency o.
the Senate without opposition.
Speech Became Classic.
1t having become a habit with MI
Coolidge to be reelected, he was choSeI
for second term as president of tn,
Senate and his 42word speech of &C
ceptance became a classic in Massachu
sets statecraft. In that, as in hi
speech of acceptance the preceding
year, he used phrases which came t.
be regarded by his friends as his creed
do the days work" and BE brief"
Another step forward in the caree
Of the future President that was termet
a political accident was his election a
lieutenant governor in 1915. For NOR
than so years no president Of the Sen
ate had been able to ascend higher ol
the political ladder. but that did no
daunt Coolidge. He was reelected twic
and during his third term, in 1918. h