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.^[2]

Calvin Coolidge
Coolidge in 1924
30th President of the United States
In office August 2, 1923 – March 4, 1929
Vice President	None (1923–1925)[a] Charles G. Dawes (1925–1929)
Preceded by	Warren G. Harding
Succeeded by	Herbert Hoover
29th Vice President of the United States
In office March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923
President	Warren G. Harding
Preceded by	Thomas R. Marshall
Succeeded by	Charles G. Dawes
48th Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 2, 1919 – January 6, 1921
Lieutenant	Channing H. Cox
Preceded by	Samuel W. McCall
Succeeded by	Channing H. Cox
46th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 6, 1916 – January 2, 1919
Governor	Samuel W. McCall
Preceded by	Grafton D. Cushing
Succeeded by	Channing H. Cox
President of the Massachusetts Senate
In office 1914–1915
Preceded by	Levi H. Greenwood
Succeeded by	Henry Gordon Wells
Member of the Massachusetts Senate
In office 1912–1915
Preceded by	Allen T. Treadway
Succeeded by	John B. Hull
Constituency	Berkshire, Hampden, and Hampshire District
Mayor of Northampton, Massachusetts
In office 1910–1911
Preceded by	James W. O'Brien
Succeeded by	William Feiker
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office 1907–1908
Preceded by	Moses M. Bassett
Succeeded by	Charles A. Montgomery
Personal details
Born	John Calvin Coolidge Jr. (1872-07-04)July 4, 1872 Plymouth Notch, Vermont
Died	January 5, 1933(1933-01-05) (aged 60) Northampton, Massachusetts
Cause of death	Heart attack[1]
Resting place	Plymouth Notch Cemetery
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Grace Goodhue ​ (m. 1905)​
Children	John Calvin Jr.
Parents	John Calvin Coolidge Sr. Victoria Josephine Moor
Alma mater	Amherst College
Profession	Politician, lawyer
Signature

Family

He was the only president of the United States to be born on July 4.^[2] 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

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."^[6]

Notes

1. Coolidge was Vice President under Warren G. Harding and became President upon Harding's death on August 2, 1923. As this was prior to the adoption of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment in 1967, a vacancy in the office of Vice President was not filled until the next ensuing election and inauguration.