June 30, 2014 — Coolidge left the selection of his vice presidential candidate to the 1924 convention delegates since that was how he had gotten the nomination in 1920. The Republican convention first nominated Illinois Governor Frank Lowden. He had already said he would not accept the office and promptly declined. So the convention turned to Charles G. Dawes,…
Category: Calvin Coolidge
Vice President Dawes
June 16, 2014 — Illustrious ancestors, a profitable business career, and remarkable civilian and military government service does not guarantee successful electoral office. In Calvin Coolidge’s world, no one better demonstrates this than his vice president, Charles Gates Dawes. Although one of his forebears was the William Dawes who rode with Paul Revere to warn Lexington and Concord that…
Silent Cal Was Orator
December 2, 2013 — On September 4, 1923, the Associated Press (AP) reported that according to a biographical sketch in the Amherst College 25th Reunion Annual of the Class of 1895, Calvin Coolidge “always said something worth hearing.” When Calvin Coolidge became president after the sudden death of Warren G. Harding in August 1923, the country was anxious for…
Happy Thanksgiving
November 26, 2013 — “On this day, in home and church, in family and in public gatherings, the whole nation has for generations paid the tribute due from grateful hearts for blessings bestowed.” From Calvin Coolidge’s 1923 Thanksgiving Proclamation As President, Calvin Coolidge delivered a Thanksgiving Proclamation each year. Thanks to the American Presidency Project, you can read the complete proclamations…
Another Royal Visitor
November 4, 2013 — Queen Marie of Romania and her two youngest children, Prince Nicholas and Princess Ileana, traveled across the U.S. in 1926 with a stop in the capital to call on the President on their way to the State of Washington. Queen Marie was the consort of King Ferdinand and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her father…
Coolidge and Al Smith: After Retirement
October 7, 2013 — Even if opposing politicians do not forge a political bond, they seem to have a personal bond – common stresses, family issues and experiences. Coolidge and Al Smith lunching with their wives on Friday, July 16, 1926 at White Pine Camp at Paul Smiths in the Adirondacks is an example. (See the last post.) Coolidge…
Coolidge and Al Smith: Summer 1926
September 2, 2013 — Coolidge had opportunities to meet and work with Democratic leaders during his lengthy career. Despite recent press coverage of President Obama and Governor Christie, working with officials of the other party is not new. The relationship between Calvin Coolidge and Alfred E. (Al) Smith, the Democratic Governor of New York, was based more on the…
The Prince of Wales and Other Royal Visitors
August 5, 2013 — In the 1920s, the President was expected to entertain on a demanding schedule steeped in tradition. Royals and foreign heads of state came to meet the President, even when the purpose of their trip took them primarily to other parts of the country. When compared with the annual receptions for the diplomatic corps, the Senate,…
Coolidge Commutes to Boston
July 1, 2013 — Have you ever wondered how Coolidge, who didn’t drive, got to the State House to serve as a state rep, state senator, lieutenant governor and governor? There was no turnpike as we know it so one hundred years ago, he took the train. When in Boston, Coolidge and some of the other Western Mass legislators…
Preparing for the Great War
June 3, 2013 — Calvin Coolidge’s terms in the Massachusetts Senate coincided with the beginning of World War I in Europe (1912 – 1915). The great debate about America’s role and participation in the conflict began. The Massachusetts legislature appointed a Committee to Study Preparedness in 1915. The Hampshire Gazette reported on a union service at the Methodist Church…
A State Senator and His Committees
May 9, 2013 — After serving as mayor of Northampton in 1910 and 1911, Coolidge was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate. He would serve four years before being elected Lieutenant Governor and Governor. In 1912, Coolidge was appointed to the Cities, Agriculture, and Legal Affairs Committees. He chaired the last two. In the summer, he also led a…
Memorial tribute to Calvin Coolidge
January 4, 2013 — Calvin Coolidge died at his home, “The Beeches” in Northampton on January 5, 1933. Upon Coolidge’s death, The Daily Hampshire Gazette published this tribute to Coolidge from Henry P. Field on January 7, 1933. Calvin Coolidge studied law in the Office of Hammond & Field 1895-1897. Henry P. Field, lawyer, Mayor of Northampton, Judge, Forbes…
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