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Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge (b. on July 4, 1872, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont) was the 30th president of the United States. He assumed office on August 2, 1923, following the death of President Warren Harding. Coolidge served until 1929. He died on January 5, 1933.
Coolidge was a member of the Republican Party. His vice president was Charles G. Dawes.
Prior to serving as president, Coolidge served as Vice President of the United States under Harding, as Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, and in the Massachusetts State Senate and House of Representatives. Before becoming a politician, he worked as a lawyer.[1]
Biography
Timeline of life events
Below is an abbreviated outline of Coolidge's professional and political career:[1]
- 1872: Born in Plymouth Notch, Vermont.
- 1891-1895: Attended Amherst College.
- 1895: Began an apprenticeship at a law office in Northampton, Massachusetts.
- 1897: Admitted to the Massachusetts state bar.
- 1898: Opened his own legal practice.
- 1898: Served on the Northampton City Council.
- 1907-1908: Served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
- 1910-1911: Served as mayor of Northampton.
- 1912-1915: Served in the Massachusetts State Senate.
- 1916-1918: Served as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts.
- 1919-1920: Served as Governor of Massachusetts.
- 1920: Elected vice president of the United States on a ticket with Warren Harding, who was elected president.
- 1923: Sworn in as president of the United States following Harding's death.
- 1923: Elected to a full term as president of the United States.
- 1929: Leaves office after declining to run for re-election in 1928, and returned to Northampton.
- 1933: Died of a heart attack at age 60.[1][2]
Before the presidency
Coolidge was born in Plymouth Notch, Vermont to John and Abigail Grace Coolidge. His father was a farmer, businessman, and politician who served in the Vermont State Senate and Vermont House of Representatives. His mother died when he was 12 years old.
He left Vermont to attend Amherst College in 1891. Upon his graduation, he began a law apprenticeship in Northampton, Massachusetts. He was admitted to the Massachusetts state bar in 1897 and opened his own law firm in 1898.
His political career began in 1989 when he was elected to the Northampton City Council, and later held the positions of city solicitor and clerk of courts. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a Progressive Republican in 1906 and served two single-year terms before being elected mayor of Northampton. He returned to state government when he was elected to the Massachusetts State Senate in 1911. He served three single-year terms as lieutenant governor of Massachusetts from 1916 to 1918, and two single-year terms as governor of Massachusetts from 1919 to 1920.
Coolidge attracted national attention as governor during a 1919 Boston police strike, in which he called upon units of the National Guard and called for recruitment of a new police force.
Delegates to the 1920 Republican national convention selected Coolidge as Warren Harding's vice presidential running mate. Harding and Coolidge defeated Democrats James Cox and Franklin Roosevelt, earning over 60 percent of the popular vote. Coolidge was the first vice president to attend cabinet meetings.
Harding died unexpectedly on August 2, 1923, while visiting San Francisco. Coolidge was in Vermont at the time and was sworn in as president of the United States by his father, a notary public.
Presidency
After assuming office, Coolidge addressed Congress for the first time in December 1923. In 1924, he signed the Revenue Act of 1924, which reduced inheritance and personal income taxes. He also signed the Immigration Act of 1924, or the Johnson-Reid Act, which reduced immigration to the United States from parts of Europe and ended immigration from Japan.[3]
In 1924, Coolidge ran for president as the Republican nominee. Charles Dawes was chosen as the vice presidential nominee. Coolidge and Dawes defeated the Democratic candidate, John W. Davis, and the Progressive party candidate, Robert LaFollette.[4]
Coolidge signed the Revenue Act of 1926, which further reduced federal taxes. The federal debt and budget deficits also fell over the course his presidency, and his administration limited federal regulation.[5]
In foreign affairs, Coolidge authorized representatives including Vice President Dawes to develop what became known as the Dawes plan to resolve European financial disputes stemming from the conclusion of World War I. His administration entered into the Kellogg-Briand Pact with the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy, and Germany, which called for peaceful settlement of international disputes.[5][6]
Major events that took place during Coolidge's presidency include Charles Lindbergh's first transatlantic flight and the first connection of a radio telephone system between New York and London.[3]
In 1928, Coolidge announced that he would not run for re-election. Later that year, the Republican Party chose Coolidge's Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover as their 1928 nominee.[5]
Personal
Coolidge was married to Grace Anna Goodhue from 1905 until his death. Together they had two sons: John and Calvin, Jr., who died at age 16.
Elections
1924 presidential election
In 1924, Coolidge was elected president of the United States with Charles Dawes as his running mate. He defeated Democrat John Davis and Progressive Robert LaFollette.
| U.S. presidential election, 1924 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Republican |  Calvin Coolidge/Charles Dawes |
54% | 15,719,068 | 382 | |
| Democratic | John Davis/Charles Bryan | 28.8% | 8,384,341 | 136 | |
| Progressive | Robert LaFollette/Burton Wheeler | 16.6% | 4,833,821 | 13 | |
| Prohibition | Herman Faris/Marie Brehm | 0.2% | 55,975 | 0 | |
| Communist | William Foster/Benjamin Gitlow | 0.1% | 38,669 | 0 | |
| Socialist Labor | Frank Johns/Verne Reynolds | 0.1% | 28,636 | 0 | |
| American | Gilbert Nations/Charles Randall | 0.1% | 24,325 | 0 | |
| Commonwealth Land | Wiliam Wallace/John Lincoln | 0% | 3,016 | 0 | |
| Total Votes | 29,087,851 | 531 | |||
| Election results via: 1924 official election results | |||||
1920 presidential election
In 1920, Coolidge was elected vice president of the United States on a ticket with Warren Harding. They defeated James Cox and Franklin Roosevelt in the election.
| U.S. presidential election, 1920 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Electoral votes | |
| Republican | Warren Harding/Calvin Coolidge |
60.4% | 16,166,126 | 404 | |
| Democratic | James Cox/Franklin Roosevelt | 34.2% | 9,140,256 | 127 | |
| Socialist | Eugene Debs/Seymour Stedman | 3.4% | 914,191 | 0 | |
| Farmer-Labor | Parley Christiansen/Maximilian Hayes | 1% | 265,395 | 0 | |
| Prohibition | Aaron Watkins/David Colvin | 0.7% | 188,709 | 0 | |
| American | James Ferguson/William Hough | 0.2% | 47,968 | 0 | |
| American | William Cox/August Gillhaus | 0.1% | 31,084 | 0 | |
| Single Tax | Robert Macauley/Richard Barnum | 0% | 5,750 | 0 | |
| Total Votes | 26,759,479 | 531 | |||
| Election results via: 1920 official election results | |||||
State of the Union addresses
Every year in office, the president of the United States addresses Congress on the present state of affairs as well as the administration's goals for the coming year.[7] Following are pages with information on Coolidge's State of the Union addresses.
See also
External links
- Calvin Coolidge Presidential Library and Museum
- Official White House biography
- C-SPAN video on Coolidge
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Biography.com, "Calvin Coolidge," accessed October 10, 2018
- ↑ Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, "A Biographical Sketch of Calvin Coolidge," accessed October 10, 2018
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Presidential Power, "Calvin Coolidge timeline," accessed October 11, 2018
- ↑ History.com, "Calvin Coolidge," accessed October 11, 2018
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Khan Academy, "The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge," accessed October 11, 2018
- ↑ Miller Center, "Calvin Coolidge: Foreign Affairs," accessed October 15, 2018
- ↑ Congressional Research Service, "The President’s State of the Union Address: Tradition, Function, and Policy Implications," January 24, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Warren Harding (R) |
President of the United States 1928-1929 |
Succeeded by Herbert Hoover (R) |
| |||||||
