Coolidge, Calvin (1872–1933)

THE 30TH PRESIDENT of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, was born on Independence Day, 1872, in Plymouth, Vermont, as John Calvin Coolidge. Later in his life he dropped the “John” from his name. He was the son of John Calvin Coolidge, a man of many trades (including storekeeper, teacher, politician, and farmer) and Victoria Josephine Moor Coolidge. His mother died at age 39 when Coolidge was 12. In 1895, he graduated from Amherst College with honors. Following his graduation, he studied law in Northampton, Massachusetts, in the offices of John Hammond and Henry Field. After being accepted to the bar in 1897, he opened his own practice where he did collection work for business houses, managed estates, performed title work for banks, and dealt with real estate issues.

Throughout his life, Coolidge was very involved in politics and was an active member of the Republican Party. On December 6, 1899, he was appointed city councilman, the beginning of his public service career. He continued to move up the political ladder, holding many government positions. Coolidge became governor of Massachusetts at the age of 47 on November 5, 1918.

During his service as governor, he became nationally known for his stand during the Boston Police Strike on September 11, 1919. He believed that the police should not be allowed to go on strike. Coolidge declared: “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime.” He dispatched the National Guard despite warnings by colleagues that it might destroy the Republican Party in Massachusetts and also his career. When the strike was over, Coolidge [Page 601]did not allow the strikers to return to work. He was reelected that fall.

In 1920 he took a run at the presidency, but Warren G. Harding received the Republican nomination. Coolidge was selected vice president. That November, the Harding and Coolidge team won by a landslide. Harding died on August 2, 1923, and Coolidge became president. His father, who at the time was a notary public, swore him in. During the one year that was left of the term, he gained enough support within his party to receive the presidential nomination for the 1924 campaign, which he won easily. He received about 72 percent of the electoral votes. During his second term as president, he successfully achieved most of his goals. He was known for his conservative views, perhaps best summarized in his public statement: “We do not need more intellectual power, we need more moral power. We do not need more knowledge, we need more character. We do not need more government, we need more culture. We do not need more law, we need more religion.”

His domestic economic policies successfully followed the conservative Republican line: He cut the national budget almost in half, he kept unemployment at 3.6 percent, and the nation's wealth increased by 17.5 percent. Educational spending increased and illiteracy was cut in half. On June 2, 1924, he signed a bill that made all Native Americans citizens of the United States.

Coolidge is known for supporting the KelloggBriand Pact, is a multilateral pact under which 62 countries renounced war as a means of international policy, which was later turned into international law. It was ratified by the U.S. Senate and signed by Coolidge on January 17, 1929. Throughout his presidency, he was one of the most popular presidents in American history. He was also known to be very quiet and always calm. Some historians point out that Coolidge's economic policies, especially his laissez-faire attitude toward American business, helped contribute to the causes and effects of the subsequent Great Depression of the 1930s.

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