How Calvin Coolidge Became President
The man we know as Silent Cal was born with the handle of John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. He is the only U.S. President to be born on Independence Day. John Calvin Coolidge, Sr. was a prosperous farmer, storekeeper and was also the local justice of the peace and tax collector. Coolidge Sr. also served in the Vermont House of Representatives as well as the Vermont Senate.
Coolidge attended Black River Academy and later he went to Amherst College, where he did well as a member of the debating club. At his father's urging, Coolidge moved to Northampton, Massachusetts to become a lawyer. To avoid the cost of law school, Coolidge followed the contemporary practice of apprenticing with a local law firm, Hammond & Field, and reading law with them. He practiced with John C. Hammond and Henry P. Field, who were also Amherst graduates. Coolidge was admitted to the state bar in 1897 and was able to open his own law office in Northampton in 1898. He earned a reputation for being hard-working and diligent and his practice grew.
In 1905 Coolidge met Grace Anna Goodhue, a University of Vermont graduate and teacher at the Clarke School for the Deaf. They became engaged in the early summer of 1905 and were married in October. They had two sons: John (born in 1906, who lived to be 94 and died in2000), and Calvin, Jr. (born 1908, who died when his father was president in 1924).
The Republican Party was the dominant political party in New England at the time and had been his father's party. In 1896 Coolidge campaigned for Republican presidential candidate William McKinley in 1896, and in 1897 he was selected to be a member of the Republican City Committee. In 1898, he was elected to the City Council of Northampton, finishing second in a ward where the top three candidates were elected. In 1899, he chose not to seek re-election, instead running for City Solicitor. He was elected for a one-year term in 1900, and reelected in 1901. In 1902, the city council selected a Democrat for city solicitor, and Coolidge returned to private practice.
Shortly thereafter, the clerk of courts for the county died. Coolidge was chosen to replace him. The job paid well, but it disqualified him from practicing law, so he remained in the position for only one year. In 1904, Coolidge suffered the only electoral defeat of his life, losing an election to the Northampton school board. But in 1906, the local Republican committee nominated him for election to the state House of Representatives and he won a close race with the incumbent Democrat.
In his freshman term, Coolidge became known as a Progressive Republican, voting in favor of such measures as women's suffrage and the direct election of Senators. In 1907, he was elected to a second term. Rather than seeking a third, he returned home to his growing family and ran for mayor of Northampton when the incumbent Democrat retired. He defeated his challenger in a close race by a vote of 1,597 to 1,409. During his first term (1910 to 1911), he increased teachers' salaries and reduced the city's debt with the help of a small tax decrease. He was renominated in 1911, and defeated the same opponent by a slightly larger margin.
In 1911, the State Senator for the Hampshire County area retired and Coolidge ran for his seat for the 1912 election. Coolidge defeated his Democratic opponent by a large margin. At the start of that term, he became chairman of a committee to arbitrate a strike by the workers of the American Woolen Company in Lawrence, Massachusetts. After two tense months, the company agreed to the workers' demands, in a settlement proposed by the committee.
In the 1912 presidential election, Massachusetts Republicans were split between the progressive wing, which favored Theodore Roosevelt, and the conservative wing, which favored William Howard Taft. Although he favored some progressive measures, Coolidge refused to leave the Republican party. Coolidge won reelection against his Democratic opponent by an increased margin.
In the 1913 session Coolidge sponsored the passage the Western Trolley Act which connected Northhampton with a dozen other industrial communities in western Massachusetts. Coolidge planned to retire after his second term, but when the President of the State Senate, Levi H. Greenwood, considered running for Lieutenant Governor, Coolidge decided to run again for the Senate in the hopes of being elected as its presiding officer. Coolidge won re-election and also won the presidency of a closely divided Senate. After his election in January 1914, Coolidge delivered a published what has become a famous frequently quoted speech entitled "Have Faith in Massachusetts." The speech was well received and raised his profile. He won reelection to the Senate in the 1914 elections and was reelected unanimously to be President of the Senate.
Coolidge's supporters encouraged him again to run for lieutenant governor. Coolidge was nominated to run on a ticket with gubernatorial candidate Samuel W. McCall. McCall and Coolidge won the 1915 election to their respective one year terms. In Massachusetts, the lieutenant governor does not preside over the state Senate, as is the case in many other states. as lieutenant governor, Coolidge was the "deputy governor" and was also chairman of the finance committee and the pardons committee. He discontinued his law practice in 1916, but his family continued to live in Northampton. McCall and Coolidge were both reelected in 1916 and again in 1917. When McCall decided that he would not seek a fourth term, Coolidge announced his intention to run for governor.
Coolidge was unopposed for the Republican nomination for Governor of Massachusetts in 1918. He and his running mate, Channing Cox, a Boston lawyer and Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, ran on a platform of fiscal conservatism, support for women's suffrage, and support for American involvement in World War I. Coolidge was elected by a margin of 16,773 votes over his opponent, Richard H. Long.
The most prominent issue of Coolidge's term in office was the 1919 Boston Police strike. In 1919, in response to a plan of the policemen of the Boston Police Department to register with a union, Police Commissioner Edwin Curtis announced that such action would not be tolerated. In August of that year, the American Federation of Labor issued a charter to the Boston Police Union. In retaliation, Curtis stated that the union's leaders were guilty of insubordination. He threatened to suspend them unless the union was dissolved by September 4. The mayor of Boston, Andrew Peters, convinced Curtis to delay this action for a few days, but Curtis suspended the union leaders on September 8. The next day, about three-quarters of the policemen in Boston went on strike.
Coolidge monitored the situation but initially he left it up to the local authorities. That night and the next, there was sporadic violence and rioting in the city. Mayor Peters was concerned about sympathy strikes by the firemen and others, so he called up some units of the Massachusetts National Guard and relieved Curtis of his duty. Coolidge became concerned about the situation and called up more units of the National Guard. He restored Curtis as Commissioner, and took personal control of the police force. Curtis proclaimed that all of the strikers were fired from their jobs, and Coolidge called for a new police force to be recruited.
Coolidge received a telegram from AFL leader Samuel Gompers. The telegram blamed Curtis for denying the officers their right to form a union. Coolidge publicly answered Gompers's telegram in which he strongly asserted that police officers do not have the right to strike. His response raised his profile nationally as newspapers across the nation published Coolidge's response. At a time of the "Red Scare", many Americans were terrified of the spread of communism as had taken place in Russia, Hungary, and Germany. Coolidge lost some support within organized labor, but he was seen by conservatives across the nation as a rising star. Coolidge and Cox were re-elected in 1919 by a much larger margin.
The First World War had ended in November of 1918, and Coolidge pushed the legislature to give a $100 bonus to Massachusetts veterans. He also signed a bill reducing the work week for women and children from fifty-four hours to forty-eight and he signed into law a budget that kept the tax rates the same, while trimming $4 million from expenditures, thus allowing the state to retire some more of its debt.
At the 1920 Republican National Convention Coolidge's name was put in nomination and he placed as high as sixth in the voting. After ten ballots, the bosses and then the delegates settled on Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio as their nominee for president. A delegate from Oregon, Wallace McCamant, had read "Have Faith in Massachusetts" and he proposed Coolidge for Vice President. The suggestion caught on quickly and Coolidge was unexpectedly nominated.
The Democrats nominated another Ohioan, James M. Cox, for President and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, for Vice President. The question of the United States joining the League of Nations was a major issue in the campaign. Harding ran a "front-porch" campaign from his home in Marion, Ohio, but Coolidge took to the campaign trail in the Upper South, New York, and New England. On November 2, 1920, Harding and Coolidge were victorious in a landslide, winning more than 60 percent of the popular vote, including every state outside the South.
The Vice-Presidency did not carry many official duties, but Coolidge was invited by President Harding to attend cabinet meetings, making him the first Vice President to do so. On August 2, 1923, President Harding died suddenly while on a speaking tour of the western United States. Vice-President Coolidge was in Vermont visiting his family home, which did not have electricity or a telephone. He received word by messenger of Harding's death. According to his autobiography, he dressed, said a prayer, and came downstairs to greet the reporters who had assembled. His father, a notary public, administered the oath of office in the family's parlor by the light of a kerosene lamp at 2:47 am on August 3, 1923. Coolidge then went back to bed. He returned to Washington the next day, and was sworn in again by Justice Adolph A. Hoehling, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia and attended to the work of being the 30th President of the United States.
Coolidge attended Black River Academy and later he went to Amherst College, where he did well as a member of the debating club. At his father's urging, Coolidge moved to Northampton, Massachusetts to become a lawyer. To avoid the cost of law school, Coolidge followed the contemporary practice of apprenticing with a local law firm, Hammond & Field, and reading law with them. He practiced with John C. Hammond and Henry P. Field, who were also Amherst graduates. Coolidge was admitted to the state bar in 1897 and was able to open his own law office in Northampton in 1898. He earned a reputation for being hard-working and diligent and his practice grew.
In 1905 Coolidge met Grace Anna Goodhue, a University of Vermont graduate and teacher at the Clarke School for the Deaf. They became engaged in the early summer of 1905 and were married in October. They had two sons: John (born in 1906, who lived to be 94 and died in2000), and Calvin, Jr. (born 1908, who died when his father was president in 1924).
The Republican Party was the dominant political party in New England at the time and had been his father's party. In 1896 Coolidge campaigned for Republican presidential candidate William McKinley in 1896, and in 1897 he was selected to be a member of the Republican City Committee. In 1898, he was elected to the City Council of Northampton, finishing second in a ward where the top three candidates were elected. In 1899, he chose not to seek re-election, instead running for City Solicitor. He was elected for a one-year term in 1900, and reelected in 1901. In 1902, the city council selected a Democrat for city solicitor, and Coolidge returned to private practice.
Shortly thereafter, the clerk of courts for the county died. Coolidge was chosen to replace him. The job paid well, but it disqualified him from practicing law, so he remained in the position for only one year. In 1904, Coolidge suffered the only electoral defeat of his life, losing an election to the Northampton school board. But in 1906, the local Republican committee nominated him for election to the state House of Representatives and he won a close race with the incumbent Democrat.
In his freshman term, Coolidge became known as a Progressive Republican, voting in favor of such measures as women's suffrage and the direct election of Senators. In 1907, he was elected to a second term. Rather than seeking a third, he returned home to his growing family and ran for mayor of Northampton when the incumbent Democrat retired. He defeated his challenger in a close race by a vote of 1,597 to 1,409. During his first term (1910 to 1911), he increased teachers' salaries and reduced the city's debt with the help of a small tax decrease. He was renominated in 1911, and defeated the same opponent by a slightly larger margin.
In 1911, the State Senator for the Hampshire County area retired and Coolidge ran for his seat for the 1912 election. Coolidge defeated his Democratic opponent by a large margin. At the start of that term, he became chairman of a committee to arbitrate a strike by the workers of the American Woolen Company in Lawrence, Massachusetts. After two tense months, the company agreed to the workers' demands, in a settlement proposed by the committee.
In the 1912 presidential election, Massachusetts Republicans were split between the progressive wing, which favored Theodore Roosevelt, and the conservative wing, which favored William Howard Taft. Although he favored some progressive measures, Coolidge refused to leave the Republican party. Coolidge won reelection against his Democratic opponent by an increased margin.
In the 1913 session Coolidge sponsored the passage the Western Trolley Act which connected Northhampton with a dozen other industrial communities in western Massachusetts. Coolidge planned to retire after his second term, but when the President of the State Senate, Levi H. Greenwood, considered running for Lieutenant Governor, Coolidge decided to run again for the Senate in the hopes of being elected as its presiding officer. Coolidge won re-election and also won the presidency of a closely divided Senate. After his election in January 1914, Coolidge delivered a published what has become a famous frequently quoted speech entitled "Have Faith in Massachusetts." The speech was well received and raised his profile. He won reelection to the Senate in the 1914 elections and was reelected unanimously to be President of the Senate.
Coolidge's supporters encouraged him again to run for lieutenant governor. Coolidge was nominated to run on a ticket with gubernatorial candidate Samuel W. McCall. McCall and Coolidge won the 1915 election to their respective one year terms. In Massachusetts, the lieutenant governor does not preside over the state Senate, as is the case in many other states. as lieutenant governor, Coolidge was the "deputy governor" and was also chairman of the finance committee and the pardons committee. He discontinued his law practice in 1916, but his family continued to live in Northampton. McCall and Coolidge were both reelected in 1916 and again in 1917. When McCall decided that he would not seek a fourth term, Coolidge announced his intention to run for governor.
Coolidge was unopposed for the Republican nomination for Governor of Massachusetts in 1918. He and his running mate, Channing Cox, a Boston lawyer and Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, ran on a platform of fiscal conservatism, support for women's suffrage, and support for American involvement in World War I. Coolidge was elected by a margin of 16,773 votes over his opponent, Richard H. Long.
The most prominent issue of Coolidge's term in office was the 1919 Boston Police strike. In 1919, in response to a plan of the policemen of the Boston Police Department to register with a union, Police Commissioner Edwin Curtis announced that such action would not be tolerated. In August of that year, the American Federation of Labor issued a charter to the Boston Police Union. In retaliation, Curtis stated that the union's leaders were guilty of insubordination. He threatened to suspend them unless the union was dissolved by September 4. The mayor of Boston, Andrew Peters, convinced Curtis to delay this action for a few days, but Curtis suspended the union leaders on September 8. The next day, about three-quarters of the policemen in Boston went on strike.
Coolidge monitored the situation but initially he left it up to the local authorities. That night and the next, there was sporadic violence and rioting in the city. Mayor Peters was concerned about sympathy strikes by the firemen and others, so he called up some units of the Massachusetts National Guard and relieved Curtis of his duty. Coolidge became concerned about the situation and called up more units of the National Guard. He restored Curtis as Commissioner, and took personal control of the police force. Curtis proclaimed that all of the strikers were fired from their jobs, and Coolidge called for a new police force to be recruited.
Coolidge received a telegram from AFL leader Samuel Gompers. The telegram blamed Curtis for denying the officers their right to form a union. Coolidge publicly answered Gompers's telegram in which he strongly asserted that police officers do not have the right to strike. His response raised his profile nationally as newspapers across the nation published Coolidge's response. At a time of the "Red Scare", many Americans were terrified of the spread of communism as had taken place in Russia, Hungary, and Germany. Coolidge lost some support within organized labor, but he was seen by conservatives across the nation as a rising star. Coolidge and Cox were re-elected in 1919 by a much larger margin.
The First World War had ended in November of 1918, and Coolidge pushed the legislature to give a $100 bonus to Massachusetts veterans. He also signed a bill reducing the work week for women and children from fifty-four hours to forty-eight and he signed into law a budget that kept the tax rates the same, while trimming $4 million from expenditures, thus allowing the state to retire some more of its debt.
At the 1920 Republican National Convention Coolidge's name was put in nomination and he placed as high as sixth in the voting. After ten ballots, the bosses and then the delegates settled on Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio as their nominee for president. A delegate from Oregon, Wallace McCamant, had read "Have Faith in Massachusetts" and he proposed Coolidge for Vice President. The suggestion caught on quickly and Coolidge was unexpectedly nominated.
The Democrats nominated another Ohioan, James M. Cox, for President and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, for Vice President. The question of the United States joining the League of Nations was a major issue in the campaign. Harding ran a "front-porch" campaign from his home in Marion, Ohio, but Coolidge took to the campaign trail in the Upper South, New York, and New England. On November 2, 1920, Harding and Coolidge were victorious in a landslide, winning more than 60 percent of the popular vote, including every state outside the South.
The Vice-Presidency did not carry many official duties, but Coolidge was invited by President Harding to attend cabinet meetings, making him the first Vice President to do so. On August 2, 1923, President Harding died suddenly while on a speaking tour of the western United States. Vice-President Coolidge was in Vermont visiting his family home, which did not have electricity or a telephone. He received word by messenger of Harding's death. According to his autobiography, he dressed, said a prayer, and came downstairs to greet the reporters who had assembled. His father, a notary public, administered the oath of office in the family's parlor by the light of a kerosene lamp at 2:47 am on August 3, 1923. Coolidge then went back to bed. He returned to Washington the next day, and was sworn in again by Justice Adolph A. Hoehling, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia and attended to the work of being the 30th President of the United States.