Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States between 1923 and 1929. He was a conservative who supported less intervention in business and lower taxes.

 Family 
He was the only president of the United States to be born on July 4. He married Grace Coolidge, and they had two children: John Calvin Coolidge III (born September 6, 1906 - died May 31, 2000) and John Calvin IV (born April 13, 1908 - died July 7, 1924). His younger son died at 16 while he was playing tennis at the White House. He was wearing tennis shoes without socks and died from a toe infection. He was buried at the foot of Hill Cemetery. That may have caused President Coolidge to become depressed.

 Political career 
Coolidge served as the mayor of Northampton, Massachusetts. He later served as the governor of Massachusetts. As governor, he became famous because of his response during the Boston Police Strike. Coolidge fired the police who went on strike and gave the jobs to unemployed World War I veterans. He gave to the veterans the same bonuses that the striking policemen were asking for.

In 1920, he was nominated vice president under Warren G. Harding. The Harding-Coolidge team won easily. Harding died in 1923, and Coolidge became the next president. He was inaugurated at his family farm in Vermont by his father, John Calvin Coolidge Sr.

Coolidge finished Harding's term and was elected in 1924 to continue to be the United States president.

Coolidge was president during a prosperous economy, and the country did not face many challenges. He believed that the federal government should be as small as possible. He supported tax cuts and wanted the federal government to avoid intervening in the economy. He was the first president to lead a public celebration of the Christmas holidays.

Coolidge was criticized for refusing to give subsidies to farmers.Also, when a giant flood happened on the Mississippi River in 1927, he did not want the federal government to be involved. That was part of his belief of federalism in which the country's problems should be solved mainly by state and local governments, rather than the federal government. 

He did not run for re-election in 1928 and published his autobiography the following year. He died of a heart attack in Massachusetts when he was 60.

Hislegacy is mixed. People who support more federal government involvement in the economy do not like him. People who support less federal government involvement in the economy like him.

 "Silent Cal" 
Coolidge was nicknamed "Silent Cal" because he did not talk much. There is a story that at a dinner party, a woman once told Coolidge that she could get more than two words out of him and that he replied, "You lose."

Notes

 References 

 Other websites 
 Coolidge's White House biography 

Category:1872 births
Category:1933 deaths

Category:Deaths from coronary thrombosis
Category:Republican Party (United States) politicians
Category:Governors of Massachusetts
Category:Politicians from Vermont
Category:20th-century American politicians
Category:Massachusetts Republicans
Category:Capitalism
Category:Vice presidents of the United States
Category:20th-century presidents of the United States