John Calvin Coolidge

Early Life and Career

John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was born in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, on July 4, 1872. His father,
John Coolidge, was a successful farmer and small businessman who served in the Vermont
House of Representatives and the Vermont Senate, as well as other local offices. Coolidge's
mother Victoria Josephine Moor died when he was 12 years old, and his teenage sister,
Abigail Grace Coolidge, died several years later.
Coolidge’s earliest American ancestor, John Coolidge, emigrated from England around 1630,
settling in Massachusetts. Coolidge's great-great-grandfather, also named John Coolidge, was
an officer in the Revolutionary War.
Coolidge attended Black River Academy and then St. Johnsbury Academy, before enrolling
at Amherst College, where he distinguished himself in the debating class. As a senior, he
joined the fraternity Phi Gamma Delta and graduated cum laude. While at Amherst, Coolidge
was profoundly influenced by philosophy professor Charles Edward Garman, a
Congregational mystic, with a neo-Hegelian philosophy.
At his father's urging after graduation, Coolidge moved to Northampton, Massachusetts to
become a lawyer. To avoid the cost of law school, Coolidge followed the common practice of
apprenticing with a local law firm, Hammond & Field, and reading law with them. John C.
Hammond and Henry P. Field, both Amherst graduates, introduced Coolidge to law practice
in the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts. In 1897, Coolidge was admitted to
the Massachusetts bar, becoming a country lawyer.
In 1905, Coolidge married Grace Anna Goodhue, a teacher at a school for the deaf. The two
were nearly opposites: While Grace was talkative and social, Calvin was stoic and serious.
The marriage would prove to be very happy and successful. The Coolidges had two sons:
John and Calvin Jr. Calvin Jr. died at age 16 from blood poisoning.
Political Career
In 1896, Coolidge campaigned locally for Republican presidential candidate William
McKinley. In 1898, he won election to the Northampton City Council, and then to the offices
of city solicitor and clerk of courts. In 1906, Coolidge was elected to the Massachusetts
House of Representatives as a Progressive Republican. He went on to serve as mayor of
Northampton before returning to the state legislature,.
After his election in January 1914, Coolidge delivered a speech entitled Have Faith in
Massachusetts, which summarized his philosophy of government. His reputation grew with
the publication of his speeches. He was elected lieutenant governor and then governor of
Massachusets in the 1918 race.
On 1920 Republican delegates settled on Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio as their
presidential nominee in 1920, and Coolidge was nominated as vice president. Harding and
Coolidge beat opponents James M. Cox and Franklin D. Roosevelt in a landslide, taking
every state outside of the South.
On August 2, 1923, President Harding died while traveling in California. Coolidge was in
Vermont visiting his family home, which had neither electricity nor a telephone, when a
messenger brought word of Harding’s death. He was sworn in by his father, who was a notary
public.
On the election of 1924 Coolidge was renominated to become President and former
Brigadier General Charles G. Dawes as his running mate. Coolidge become re elected as
President and He defeated John W Davis and Charles W Bryan from Democratic Party.
During Coolidge's presidency, the United States experienced the period of rapid economic
growth that characterized the "Roaring Twenties." With the exception of favoring tariffs,
Coolidge disdained regulation. Some contemporaries and historians have blamed his laissez-
faire ideology for the Great Depression. Coolidge was also suspicious of foreign alliances,
discouraging American membership in the League of Nations. Like Harding, Coolidge
refused to recognize the Soviet Union.
Death
Coolidge died suddenly from coronary thrombosis at "The Beeches," at 12:45 p.m., January
5, 1933. Shortly before his death, Coolidge said to his 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.