page_title: I do not choose to run
section_title: Desire for private life
hierarchical_section_title: I do not choose to run / Reasons for the statement / Desire for private life
caption_attribution_description: English: Cartoon by C. Berryman portraying President Coolidge after his famous statement "I do not choose to run"
context_page_description: "I do not choose to run" is President Calvin Coolidge's statement to the press on his decision not to run for the 1928 presidential election. The statement was ambiguous, and led to considerable debate as to the intentions of its language.
context_section_description: Others saw Coolidge's message as a desire to get back to private life. As early as 1924, Coolidge decided he would not run for the presidency a second time. The death of his son, Cal Jr., in 1924, took a heavy toll on the president, which some say led to clinical depression. "When he died, the power and the glory of the Presidency went with him", Coolidge later wrote in his autobiography. He also noted that another term would put him in the White House longer than any other man had been there, and ten years is more time than any man should spend there.
  Also, Coolidge took some steps to make sure he was not drafted for the nomination. He said, "I do not approve the circulation of a petition, such as has been reported in the morning press, requesting me to run for president in 1928. I don't see that anything good could come from it. I hope it will be discontinued." He also announced in December 1927, "My statement stands. No one should be led to suppose that I have modified it. My decision will be respected." Informed that some Massachusetts Republicans were mounting a campaign to have him win their state's presidential primary, Coolidge informed the Republican state chairman "Such an action would be most embarrassing to me… I request that it not be done."
  While the language was open for debate, some pointed out that it was the language of a Vermont Yankee. "The Yankee language is founded on understatement and not overstatement," said publisher Charles Thompson.
caption: Political cartoon by Clifford Berryman portraying Coolidge after his statement.
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