-
“Mr. President!”
“You have to stand everyday three or four hours for visitors. Nine-tenths of them want something they ought not to have. If you keep dead-still they will run down in three or four minutes. If you even cough or smile they will start up all over again.”
Advice to President-elect Herbert Hoober in 1929; The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The Cabinet and the Presidency, 1920-1933, 1952
Can you imagine how President Obama is faring?
-
Coolidge Goes “Green”
Today, everyone is interested in the environmental issues facing us in the 21st century. In 1920, Coolidge was already speaking about our country’s level of resource consumption.
“Diminishing resources warn us of the necessity of conservation. The public domain is the property of the public. It is held in trust for present and future generations. The material resources of our contry are great, very great, but they are not inexhaustible.”
Speech accepting the vice presidential nomination, Northampton, Massachusetts, July 27, 1920
-
A century ago, Mayor Cal showed his ‘cool’
Bob Flaherty: A century ago, Mayor Cal showed his ‘cool’
November 3, 2009 | Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, MA)
Author: BOB FLAHERTY | Section: Local News -
VOTE!!!
Tuesday November 3 is election day in Northampton!
For more information and a specimen ballot see http://www.northamptonma.gov/cityclerk/Elections/November_3_2009_Election_Candidates/The Coolidge Museum has been asked, “what would Calvin do?”
The answer is a simple one. Calvin Coolidge would tell his constituents to get out and vote, to care about their government, and to exercise their duty as citizens. As you make your decision whether or not to go to the polls and then how to vote, remember the words of Calvin Coolidge, “We have a tendency to be too indifferent before primaries and elections and too critical after. Public officers can and do exercise large influence over our daily life but the main course of events is in our own hands.” From a November 4, 1930 newspaper column
-
Coolidge on Columbus Day
“…The glory of [Columbus’] exploit, great as it was, becomes almost unimportant when compared with its results. It marked the inception of the modern era. The minds of men were opened to new thoughts… The arts began to flourish… A new age appeared, great in captains, admirals, statesmen, poets and philosophers, and finally new nations dedicated to human freedom arose on this side of the Atlantic. These are partly the reasons why Christopher Columbus is entitled to be honored.”
From “Calvin Coolidge Says” a syndicated newspaper column October 11, 1930
Happy Columbus Day!
-
Happy Anniversary, Calvin and Grace!
Today marks the 104th wedding anniversary of Calvin and Grace Coolidge. They were wed on October 4, 1905 in Burlington, Vermont.
“A man who has the companionship of a lovely and gracious woman enjoys the supreme blessing that life can give. And no citizen of the United States knows the truth of this statement more than I.”
Calvin Coolidge’s comment to friend, Bruce Barton, in 1926
-
Americanism
“Whether one traces his Americanism back three centuries to the Mayflower, or three years to the steerage, is not half so important as whether his Americanism of today is real and genuine. No matter by what various crafts we came here, we are all now in the same boat.”
Presidential address to the American Legion convention, Omaha, Nebraska, October 6, 1925
-
Happy Birthday John!
Calvin and Grace Coolidge welcomed their first son into the world on September 7, 1906 at their home in Northampton, Massachusetts. -
Calvin on the value of taking vacations
“Because we have had a difficult year and have many problems to solve such person may think of foregoing any absence from business in the immediate future. The fact is the brains of the country need relaxation and refreshment More than ever this season. They owe a duty to themselves, their business and their associates to get more than the usual period of rest. The country will e further advances in October if July and August find many visitors at the shores and in the hills. Just now we need replenishment of body and soul that comes only in withdrawing from work and familiar scenes and seeking diversion in new activities and new surroundings. This year above most others the brain and the hand need to be replenished by rest.”
From the syndicated column “Calvin Coolidge Says” from June 2, 1931.
-
Coolidge’s Two Oaths of Office
Did you know Coolidge took the Oath of Office twice in 1923?
August 2, 1923 at 7:30 PM PST, President Warren Harding died in San Francisco, CA while Vice-President Calvin Coolidge was vacationing at his father’s home in Plymouth Notch, VT. At 2:47 AM EST on August 3, 1923, Coolidge took the Presidential Oath of Office administered by his father, a notary. It was later determined by U.S. Solicitor General James Beck that a state official could not swear in a federal official. Therefore, Coolidge took a second Presidential Oath of Office at the New Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. administered by Chief Justice A.A. Hoehling.
Calvin Coolidge taking the Oath of Office in Plymouth Notch, VT on August 3, 1923. This painting, on loan from Amherst College, is on display in the Coolidge Museum.
Calvin Coolidge taking the oath of office from his father following Harding’s death on August 3, 1923 in his father’s living room in Plymouth Notch, Vermont.
