John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. (/ˈkuːlɪdʒ/; July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933) was the 30th President of the United States (1923–1929). 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.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 put it, "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." Some later criticized Coolidge as part of a general disapproval of laissez-faire government. His reputation underwent a renaissance during the Ronald Reagan administration, but the ultimate assessment of his presidency is still divided between those who approve of his reduction of the size of government programs and those who believe the federal government should be more involved in regulating and controlling the economy.
July 4, 1872, Plymouth Notch, Vermont, United States
Died
January 5, 1933, Northampton, Massachusetts, United States
Place Of Birth
Plymouth Notch, Vermont, USA
Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)
Profession
Lawyer, Politician
Education
St. Johnsbury Academy, Amherst College
Nationality
American
Spouse
Grace Coolidge (m. 1905)
Children
John Coolidge, Calvin Coolidge Jr.
Parents
John Calvin Coolidge Sr., Victoria Josephine Moor
Siblings
Abigail Grace Coolidge
Star Sign
Cancer
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Quote
1
People seem to think the presidential machinery should keep on running, even after the power has been turned off.
2
I sometimes wish that people would put a little more emphasis on the observance of the law than they do on its enforcement.
3
If you don't say anything, you won't be called on to repeat it.
4
I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm.
5
Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery.
6
Patriotism is easy to understand in America. It means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.
7
I do not choose to run for president in 1928.
8
[asked for his reasoning for, when governor of Massachusetts, to fire striking members of the Boston Police Department] There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, any time, anywhere.
9
[asked what he was thinking when told that President Warren G. Harding had died and he was now President] I thought I could swing it.
10
[commenting on the revelation that several members of of his predecessor's cabinet were implicated in the Teapot Dome scandal] Let the guilty be punished.
11
Four-fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would only sit down and keep still.
12
Do the day's work. If it be to protect the rights of the weak, whoever objects, do it. If it be to help a powerful corporation better to serve the people, whatever the opposition, do that. Expect to be called a stand-patter, but don't be a stand-patter. Expect to be called a demagogue, but don't be a demagogue. Don't hesitate to be as revolutionary as science. Don't hesitate to be as reactionary as the multiplication table. Don't expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong. Don't hurry to legislate. Give administration a chance to catch up with legislation.
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Fact
1
When he died in 1933, he left his entire estate, valued at $700,000, entirely to his wife Grace.
2
He was the last "true blue" conservative to win the Republican nomination until Barry Goldwater in 1964.
First U.S. president to appear in a synchronized sound film.
5
Cousin of Gov. William Wallace Stickney.
6
Was the first Vice President to attend Cabinet meetings on a regular basis, at the invitation of President Warren G. Harding. Prior to Cooldige, all Vice Presidents had been excluded from Cabinet meetings.
7
Was sworn in as President on August 3, 1923, by his father in Vermont, where he was vacationing at the time. He is the only U.S. president to have the oath of office administered by his father. Coolidge had to take the oath of office again a few weeks later when it was revealed that his father, who was a notary public for the State of Vermont, did not have the authority to swear in federal officials.
8
His favorite activity was riding his mechanical horse which he kept stored in his bedroom.
9
Coolidge had a quiet, dull personality. His headstone in Massachusetts is very much the same, it is slate gray with the Presidential seal, his name, the date and nothing else.
10
Because of his icy demeaner a woman once approached him as a party and bet that she could get him to say more than two words. Unsmiling, Coolidge said "You lose".
11
Brother in the International Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI)
12
Contrary to popular legend, he never said "The business of America is business".
13
Suffered from asthma. Because he distrusted physicians, he treated himself with patent medicines and breathed chlorine released into the air of a closed room in futile attempts to alleviate his asthma.
$100,000
