Calvin Coolidge

30th President of the United States

Assuming the office after the death of Warren Harding, as America’s 30th President (1923-1929), **Calvin Coolidge**, a Republican lawyer from New England, demonstrated his determination to preserve the old moral and economic precepts of frugality amid the material prosperity which many Americans were enjoying during the 1920s era.

*The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge spanned the period in United States history that encompasses the events of the Prohibition era. President Calvin Coolidge represented the Republican political party which influenced the domestic and foreign policies of his presidency. The Dawes Plan addressed the collection of the German reparations following WW1.*

## Biography

At 2:30 on the morning of August 3, 1923, while visiting in Vermont, Calvin Coolidge received word that he was President. By the light of a kerosene lamp, his father, who was a notary public, administered the oath of office as Coolidge placed his hand on the family Bible.

Coolidge was “distinguished for character more than for heroic achievement,” wrote a Democratic admirer, Alfred E. Smith. “His great task was to restore the dignity and prestige of the Presidency when it had reached the lowest ebb in our history … in a time of extravagance and waste….”

Born in Plymouth, Vermont, on July 4, 1872, Coolidge was the son of a village storekeeper. He was graduated from Amherst College with honors, and entered law and politics in Northampton, Massachusetts. Slowly, methodically, he went up the political ladder from councilman in Northampton to Governor of Massachusetts, as a Republican. En route he became thoroughly conservative.

As President, Coolidge demonstrated his determination to preserve the old moral and economic precepts amid the material prosperity which many Americans were enjoying. He refused to use Federal economic power to check the growing boom or to ameliorate the depressed condition of agriculture and certain industries. His first message to Congress in December 1923 called for isolation in foreign policy, and for tax cuts, economy, and limited aid to farmers.

He rapidly became popular. In 1924, as the beneficiary of what was becoming known as “Coolidge prosperity,” he polled more than 54 percent of the popular vote.

In his Inaugural he asserted that the country had achieved “a state of contentment seldom before seen,” and pledged himself to maintain the status quo. In subsequent years he twice vetoed farm relief bills, and killed a plan to produce cheap Federal electric power on the Tennessee River.

The political genius of President Coolidge, Walter Lippmann pointed out in 1926, was his talent for effectively doing nothing: “This active inactivity suits the mood and certain of the needs of the country admirably. It suits all the business interests which want to be let alone…. And it suits all those who have become convinced that government in this country has become dangerously complicated and top-heavy….”

Coolidge was both the most negative and remote of Presidents, and the most accessible. He once explained to Bernard Baruch why he often sat silently through interviews: “Well, Baruch, many times I say only ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to people. Even that is too much. It winds them up for twenty minutes more.”

But no President was kinder in permitting himself to be photographed in Indian war bonnets or cowboy dress, and in greeting a variety of delegations to the White House.

Both his dry Yankee wit and his frugality with words became legendary. His wife, Grace Goodhue Coolidge, recounted that a young woman sitting next to Coolidge at a dinner party confided to him she had bet she could get at least three words of conversation from him. Without looking at her he quietly retorted, “You lose.” And in 1928, while vacationing in the Black Hills of South Dakota, he issued the most famous of his laconic statements, “I do not choose to run for President in 1928.”

By the time the disaster of the Great Depression hit the country, Coolidge was in retirement. Before his death in January 1933, he confided to an old friend, “. . . I feel I no longer fit in with these times.”

## Personality

The character traits of President Calvin Coolidge can be described as reserved, undemonstrative, cautious and independent. It has been speculated that the Myers-Briggs personality type for Calvin Coolidge is an INTJ (introversion, intuition, thinking, judgment). A reserved, analytical and insightful character with a strong sense of independence. Calvin Coolidge Personality type: pragmatic, logical, individualist and creative.

## Nicknames

* "Cautious Cal"
* "Silent Cal"
* "Cool Cal"

*Meaning: The nickname of President Calvin Coolidge provides an insight into how the man was viewed by the American public during his presidency. The meaning of the Calvin Coolidge nickname "Silent Cal" or "Cautious Cal" refers to his quiet nature, a man of few words during social occasions*

## Inaugurations

### First Inauguration

The **first inauguration of Calvin Coolidge** as the 30th president of the United States was held on Friday, August 3, 1923, at the Coolidge Homestead in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, following the death of President Warren G. Harding the previous evening. The inauguration – the sixth non-scheduled, extraordinary inauguration to ever take place – marked the commencement of the first term (a partial term of 1 year, 213 days) of Calvin Coolidge as president. The presidential oath of office was administered to the new president by his father, John Calvin Coolidge Sr., who was a Vermont notary public and justice of the peace. On Tuesday, August 21, 1923, President Coolidge repeated the oath before Justice Adolph A. Hoehling Jr. of the Court of the District of Columbia at the Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C.

### Second Inauguration

The **second inauguration of Calvin Coolidge** as president of the United States, was held on Wednesday, March 4, 1925, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 35th presidential inauguration and marked the commencement of the second and only full term of Calvin Coolidge as president and the only term of Charles G. Dawes as vice president. Chief Justice William Howard Taft, who had served as president from 1909 to 1913, administered the oath of office. This was the first inauguration on which a former U.S. president administered the Oath and the first to be broadcast nationally on radio.

The vice-presidential oath of office was administered by the president pro tempore of the United States Senate, Albert B. Cummins. At the time, vice presidents were sworn into office in the Senate Chamber of the capitol, and would give an inaugural address before everyone headed on to the outside platform where the president would take the oath. Dawes made a fiery, half-hour address denouncing the rules of the Senate, the seniority system and many other Senate customs. Coolidge's address was barely mentioned in the news reports the next day.

## Presidents born during his Presidency

* Jimmy Carter
* George H. W. Bush

## Famous Films

* Steamboat Willie
* The Garden of Eden
* He Who Gets Slapped
* Sherlock Jr.

## Accomplishments and major events

*The major accomplishments and the famous, main events that occurred during the time that Calvin Coolidge was president included the Immigration Act of 1924, the Revenue Acts of 1924 and 1926, the National Origins Act of 1924 and the Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928). 1926 saw the introduction of the Air Commerce Act and Charles Lindbergh made his transatlantic flight in May 1927.*

**The Roaring Twenties**

Summary: Calvin Coolidge was president during the period in the United States known as the Roaring Twenties. The period saw the great Economic Boom of the 1920's with the rise of Consumerism, the popularity of Radio and Advertising and the Inventions in the 1920's that shaped America during this period. There was time for leisure and Sports in the 1920's were broadcast live across the nation and famous sports stars were idolized, as were the silent movie stars of Hollywood in the 1920s. The rapidly changing role of  Women in the 1920's led to changes in 1920's Fashion and the emergence of the Flappers and the Jazz Age.

**Prohibition Gangsters**

Summary: It was also the era of Prohibition which led to the rise of the Prohibition Gangsters, mobsters and 'bootleggers' who profited from the illegal sale of liquor during the Prohibition Era (1920 to 1933).

**Isolationism in the 1920's**

Summary: The foreign policy of Isolationism in the 1920's was adopted by Calvin Coolidge that aimed at self-advancement to make the United States economically self-reliant whilst retaining peace with other nations.

**The Mellon Plan**

Summary: The Mellon Plan was a package of economic legislation,  which reduced taxes on the wealthy and the corporations in America that encouraged growth and led to the boom in stock market investments. The Mellon Plan was proposed in 1924 and became the Revenue Act of 1924.

**The Revenue Act of 1924**

Summary: The Revenue Act of 1924 was part of the Mellon Plan to lower tax rates but included a gift tax for the wealthy. The law also established the U.S. Board of Tax Appeals.

**The Revenue Act of 1926**

Summary: The Revenue Act of 1926  addressed objections to the Revenue Act of 1924 by eliminating the gift tax and and ended public access to federal income tax returns. reduced the maximum individual tax rate from 40% to 25%. The Revenue Act of 1926 also  reduced inheritance and personal income taxes and cancelled many excise taxes.

**The Immigration Act of 1924**

Summary: The Immigration Act of 1924 established National origin quotas as a permanent basis for U.S. immigration policy.

**The National Origins Act of 1924**

Summary: The National Origins Act of 1924 made immigration restriction a permanent US policy.

**The U.S.-Mexican Border Control**

Summary: The Labor Appropriation Act of 1924 established the Border Patrol and Border Stations US-Mexican Border Control.

**The Resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920's**

Summary: Fear and suspicion triggered by the anti-radical and anti-immigrant hysteria of the Red Scare led to the Resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s and the march of the hooded and robed KKK down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington on August 8, 1925.

**The 1926 Air Commerce Act**

Summary: The 1926 Air Commerce Act was approved on May 19, 1926 and placed responsibility for aircraft, pilots and airlines with the government

**The Charles Lindbergh Transatlantic Flight**

Summary: The Charles Lindbergh Transatlantic Flight was  the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York City to Paris, in May 1927 in a Ryan airplane that was nicknamed the Spirit of St. Louis.

**The 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact**

Summary: The Kellogg-Briand Pact was a treaty, signed in Paris on August 27, 1928 between the United States and 62 other nations, that was inspired by the belief that diplomatic agreements could put an end to wars.

**Steamboat Willie**

Summary: Steamboat Willie is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black and white by Walt Disney Studios and was released by Pat Powers, under the name of Celebrity Productions. The cartoon is considered the debut of both Mickey and Minnie Mouse, although both characters appeared several months earlier in a test screening of *Plane Crazy*. *Steamboat Willie* was the third of Mickey's films to be produced, but it was the first to be distributed, because Disney, having seen *The Jazz Singer*, had committed himself to produce one of the first fully synchronized sound cartoons.

*Steamboat Willie* is especially notable for being one of the first cartoons with synchronized sound, as well as one of the first cartoons to feature a fully post-produced soundtrack, which distinguished it from earlier sound cartoons, such as Inkwell Studios' *Song Car-Tunes* (1924–1926) and Van Beuren Studios' *Dinner Time* (1928). Disney believed that synchronized sound was the future of film. *Steamboat Willie* became the most popular cartoon of its day. Music for *Steamboat Willie* was arranged by Wilfred Jackson and Bert Lewis, and it included the songs "Steamboat Bill", a composition popularized by baritone Arthur Collins during the 1910s, and "Turkey in the Straw", a composition popularized within minstrelsy during the 19th century. The title of the film may be a parody of the Buster Keaton film *Steamboat Bill, Jr.* (1928), itself a reference to the song by Collins. Disney performed all of the voices in the film, although there is little intelligible dialogue.

The film has received wide critical acclaim, not only for introducing one of the world's most popular cartoon characters but also for its technical innovation. In 1994, members of the animation field voted *Steamboat Willie* 13th in the book *The 50 Greatest Cartoons*, which listed the greatest cartoons of all time. In 1998, the short was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". As a work published in 1928, the cartoon entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2024.

**Al Capone**

Summary: The most notorious of all the Prohibition gangsters was Al Capone (1899-1947). Despite his violent reputation and his connection with organized crime Al Capone some viewed him as a 'Modern day Robin Hood' whereas others saw him as a dangerous mobster.

**The Chicago Mafia**

Summary: The Chicago Mafia was an Italian-American crime syndicate and part of the organized crime wave led by Al Capone.

**The St. Valentine's Day Massacre**

Summary: The hostility between gangsters Al Capone and George “Bugs” Moran during Prohibition led to the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago on February 14, 1929, just before the end of the Calvin Coolidge presidency.

## Post Presidency

After his presidency, Coolidge retired to a spacious home in Northampton, "The Beeches". He kept a Hacker runabout boat on the Connecticut River and was often observed on the water by local boating enthusiasts. During this period, he also served as chairman of the Non-Partisan Railroad Commission, an entity created by several banks and corporations to survey the country's long-term transportation needs and make recommendations for improvements. He was an honorary president of the American Foundation for the Blind, a director of New York Life Insurance Company, president of the American Antiquarian Society, and a trustee of Amherst College.

Coolidge published his autobiography in 1929 and wrote a syndicated newspaper column, "Calvin Coolidge Says", from 1930 to 1931. Faced with a Democratic landslide in the 1932 presidential election, some Republicans spoke of rejecting Hoover as their party's nominee, and instead drafting Coolidge to run. Coolidge made it clear that he was not interested in running again, and that he would publicly repudiate any effort to draft him. Hoover was renominated, and Coolidge made several radio addresses in support of him. Hoover then lost the general election to Coolidge's 1920 vice presidential Democratic opponent Franklin D. Roosevelt in a landslide.

## Death

Coolidge died suddenly from coronary thrombosis at "The Beeches" on January 5, 1933, at 12:45 p.m., aged 60. Shortly before his death, Coolidge confided to an old friend: "I feel I no longer fit in with these times." Coolidge is buried in Plymouth Notch Cemetery, Plymouth Notch, Vermont.

## Facts and trivia

* Calvin Coolidge was the first American President to deliver a speech on national radio.
* Although named for his father, John, from early childhood Coolidge was addressed by his middle name, Calvin. His middle name was selected in honor of John Calvin, considered a founder of the Congregational church in which Coolidge was raised and remained active throughout his life.
* Coolidge's mother was the daughter of Hiram Dunlap Moor, a Plymouth Notch farmer and Abigail Franklin. She was chronically ill and died at the age of 39, perhaps from tuberculosis, when Coolidge was 12 years old. His younger sister, Abigail Grace Coolidge (1875–1890), died at the age of 15, probably of appendicitis, when Coolidge was 18. Coolidge's father married a Plymouth schoolteacher in 1891, and lived to the age of 80.
* Coolidge's family had deep roots in New England; his earliest American ancestor, John Coolidge, emigrated from Cottenham, Cambridgeshire, England, around 1630 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. Coolidge's great-great-grandfather, also named John Coolidge, was an American military officer in the Revolutionary War and one of the first selectmen of the town of Plymouth.
* As a senior at Amherst College, Coolidge joined the fraternity Phi Gamma Delta and graduated *cum laude*. While at Amherst, he was profoundly influenced by philosophy professor Charles Edward Garman, a Congregational mystic, with a neo-Hegelian philosophy.
* In 1903, Coolidge met Grace Goodhue, a University of Vermont graduate and teacher at Northampton's Clarke School for the Deaf. Grace's vivacity and charm proved a perfect complement to Coolidge's reserved manner. In the summer of 1905, Coolidge proposed in the form of an ultimatum: "I am going to be married to you." Grace readily consented, but her mother objected and did everything she could to postpone the wedding. Coolidge never reconciled with his mother-in-law, who later insisted that Grace had been largely responsible for Coolidge's political success. On October 4, 1905, Goodhue and Coolidge married in a simple ceremony at her parents' house in Burlington, Vermont.
* Coolidge climbed up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming the 48th governor of Massachusetts. His response to the Boston Police Strike of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight and gave him a reputation as a man of decisive action. The next year, he was elected the 29th vice president of the United States alongside Warren G. Harding, in the largest landslide election in American history.
* While the Vice Presidency didn't carry many official duties, Coolidge became the first VP invited to attend Cabinet meetings.
* While in office, Coolidge restored confidence in the White House, following the Harding scandals.
* in 1924, he was elected to his first full term as President.
* A proponent for lowering taxes, Coolidge made it so only the richest 2% of tax payers paid Federal Income Tax.
* Scholars have ranked Coolidge in the lower half of U.S presidents. He gains almost universal praise for his stalwart support of racial equality during a period of heightened racial tension in the United States, and is highly praised by advocates of smaller government and *laissez-faire* economics, while supporters of an active central government generally view him far less favorably. His critics argue that he failed to use the country's economic boom to help struggling farmers and workers in other flailing industries.
* There is still much debate between historians as to the extent Coolidge's economic policies contributed to the onset of the Great Depression. However, it is widely accepted, including by his own Presidential Foundation, that the Federal Reserve System under his administration was partly responsible for the stock market crash of 1929 that occurred soon after he left office, which signaled the beginning of the Depression.

## References

* https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Coolidge-13