Calvin Coolidge (30th U.S. President) John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States (1923–29). A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state. 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. Soon after, he was elected as the 29th vice president in 1920 and succeeded to the presidency upon the sudden death of Warren G. Harding in 1923. Elected in his own right in 1924, he gained a reputation as a small-government conservative, and also as a man who said very little, although having a rather dry sense of humor. Coolidge restored public confidence in the White House after the scandals of his predecessor's administration, and left office with considerable popularity. As a Coolidge biographer wrote, "He embodied the spirit and hopes of the middle class, could interpret their longings and express their opinions. That he did represent the genius of the average is the most convincing proof of his strength." Coolidge's retirement was relatively short, as he died at the age of 60 in January 1933, less than two months before his immediate successor, Herbert Hoover, left office. Though his reputation underwent a renaissance during the Reagan administration, modern assessments of Coolidge's presidency are divided. He is adulated among advocates of smaller government and laissez-faire; supporters of an active central government generally view him less favorably, while both sides praise his stalwart support of racial equality.
Top 10 Calvin Coolidge Quotes
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers. It may not be difficult to store up in the mind a vast quantity of face within a comparatively short time, but the ability to form judgments requires the severe discipline of hard work and the tempering heat of experience and maturity.
I have never been hurt by anything I didn't say.
Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.
Those who trust to chance must abide by the results of chance.
I have never been hurt by what I have not said.
The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.
In a republic the first rule for the guidance of the citizen is obedience of the law.
When a great many people are unable to find work, unemployment results.
Never go out to meet trouble. If you will just sit still, nine cases out of ten someone will intercept it before it reaches you.
All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.
In 1905, Coolidge met Grace Anna Goodhue, a University of Vermont graduate and teacher at the Clarke School for the Deaf. That year they were engaged in early summer and married on October 4, 1905 at 2:30 p.m. at Grace's family's house: in the front of the bay window of the parlor, after an attempt in vain by Grace's mother to postpone the vows: she was never enamored with Coolidge, nor he with her. The newlyweds went on honeymoon to Montreal, originally planned for two weeks but cut short by a week at Coolidge's request. After 25 years he wrote of Grace, "for almost a quarter of a century she has borne with my infirmities and I have rejoiced in her graces"
The Coolidges had two sons: John (September 7, 1906 – May 31, 2000) and Calvin, Jr. (April 13, 1908 – July 7, 1924). Calvin's death at age 16 from blood poisoning brought on by an infected blister "hurt him terribly," according to son John. John became a railroad executive, helped to start the Coolidge Foundation, and was instrumental in creating the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site. Coolidge was frugal, and when it came to securing a home, he insisted upon renting. Henry Field had a pew in Edwards Congregational Church, and Grace was a member, but Coolidge never formally joined the congregation.
After his presidency, Coolidge retired to the modest rented house on residential Massasoit Street in Northampton before moving to a more spacious home, "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, as honorary president of the American Foundation for the Blind, as a director of New York Life Insurance Company, as president of the American Antiquarian Society, and as 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 looming defeat in the 1932 presidential election, some Republicans spoke of rejecting Herbert Hoover as their party's nominee, and instead drafting Coolidge to run, but the former president made it clear that he was not interested in running again, and that he would publicly repudiate any effort to draft him, should it come about. 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
Coolidge died suddenly from coronary thrombosis at "The Beeches," at 12:45 p.m., January 5, 1933. 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. The nearby family home is maintained as one of the original buildings on the Calvin Coolidge Homestead District site. The State of Vermont dedicated a new visitors' center nearby to mark Coolidge's 100th birthday on July 4, 1972.
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