#coolidge administration

[deadpresidents]

Which Presidential couple's story would make the best romantic comedy?

This is such a great question, and I was spending quite a bit of time going over the Presidential marriages while debating myself about the right answer. But it suddenly hit me that the perfect answer is Calvin Coolidge and his wife, Grace Goodhue Coolidge. They were extremely quirky as individuals and, as a couple, there are many unique stories about the Coolidges and their marriage. As I've written on a couple occasions in the past, Calvin Coolidge was a really weird dude (he had a mechanical horse in the White House for exercise and was not above dressing up as or acting like a cowboy when using it!), and Grace was eccentric (she had a pet raccoon named Rebecca in the White House) and very interesting in her own right. Together, they were quite a match.

As William A. DeGregorio wrote in The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents, "While watering flowers outside the school [she was working at in Northampton, Massachusetts] one day in 1903, [Grace] happened to look up at the open window of Robert N. Weir's boardinghouse and caught a glimpse of [Calvin] Coolidge, shaving in front of a mirror, with nothing on but long underwear and a hat. She burst out laughing at the sight; he heard the noise and turned to look at her. It was their first meeting."

And as the New York Times reported in a 1935 review of Mrs. Coolidge's biography of President Coolidge:

Soon after Calvin Coolidge was married, he took to his bride fifty-two pairs of socks in need of mending. "When I inquired if their wearer had married me to get his stockings darned, he replied quite seriously, 'No, but I find it mighty handy,'" Mrs. Grace Coolidge writes.

It seems like you could get a lot of comedic mileage out of their relationship. There are, without a doubt, significantly more photos of Grace Coolidge laughing or smiling than all of the First Ladies that preceded her (and a good number of those who followed her) combined.

[deadpresidents]

"[President] Coolidge chose to celebrate July 4 [1927] -- which also happened to be his fifty-fifth birthday -- by remaining in South Dakota, where he was having the time of his life. In recognition of all the publicity he was generating with his trip, the state of South Dakota presented him on his birthday with a cowboy outfit and horse. Named Kit, the horse was charitably described as 'spirited.' It was in fact all but untamed. The President, who was by no means a horseman was prudently kept well away from it. Instead his delighted attention was focused on his other main present -- a cowboy outfit consisting of a ten-gallon hat, bright red shirt, capacious blue neckerchief, chaps, boots, and spurs. Coolidge retired to put it all on and emerged clankingly, and a little clumsily, in the full regalia a few minutes later. He looked ridiculous, but very proud, and posed happily for photographers, who could not believe their luck. 'Here was one of the great comic scenes in American history,' wrote Robert Benchley in The New Yorker that week.

Coolidge loved that outfit and wore it for the rest of the summer whenever he could. According to lodge staff, he often changed into it in the evening after his more formal day's duties were done, and for a few hours ceased to be the most important man in America and instead was just a happy cowpoke."

-- Bill Bryson, on President Calvin Coolidge's genuine love for an utterly goofy cowboy outfit given to him as a birthday gift during a vacation in the Black Hills of South Dakota in July 1927, recounted in Bryson's book One Summer: America, 1927 (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO).

[deadpresidents]

"It is a great advantage to a President, and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know that he is not a great man. When a man begins to feel that he is the only one who can lead in this republic, he is guilty of treason to the spirit of our institutions."

-- Former President Calvin Coolidge, on the Presidency, "The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge," 1929.

[deadpresidents]

In 1919, his work in Europe done, [Herbert] Hoover returned permanently to the United States. He had lived abroad for twenty years and was something of a stranger in his own land, yet he was so revered that he was courted as a potential Presidential candidate by both political parties. It has often been written that Hoover had been away so long that he didn't know whether he was a Republican or a Democrat. That is not actually true. He had joined the Republican Party in 1909. But it is true that he wasn't terrifically political and had never voted in a Presidential election. In March 1921, he joined Warren G. Harding's Cabinet as Secretary of Commerce. After Harding died suddenly in 1923, he continued in the same post under Calvin Coolidge.

Hoover was a diligent and industrious presence in both administrations, but he was dazzlingly short on endearing qualities. His manner was cold, vain, prickly, and snappish. He never thanked subordinates or inquired about their health or happiness. He had no visible capacity for friendliness or warmth. He did not even like shaking hands. Although Coolidge's sense of humor was that of a slightly backward schoolboy -- one of his favorite japes was to ring all the White House servant bells at once, then hide behind the drapes to savor the confusion that followed -- he did at least have one. Hoover had none. One of his closest associates remarked that in thirty years he had never heard Hoover laugh out loud.

Coolidge kept an exceedingly light hand on the tiller of state. He presided over an administration that was, in the words of one observer, "dedicated to inactivity."...By 1927, Coolidge worked no more than about four and a half hours a day -- "a far lighter schedule than most other Presidents, indeed most other people, have followed," as the political scientist Robert E. Gilbert once observed -- and napped much of the rest of the time. "No other President in my time," recalled the White House usher, "ever slept so much." When not napping, he often sat with his feet in an open desk drawer (a lifelong habit) and counted cars passing on Pennsylvania Avenue.

All this left Herbert Hoover in an ideal position to exert himself outside his areas of formal responsibility, and nothing pleased Herbert Hoover more than conquering new administrative territories. He took a hand in everything -- labor disputes, the regulation of radio, the fixing of airline routes, the supervision of foreign loans, the relief of traffic congestion, the distribution of water rights along major rivers, the price of rubber, the implementation of child hygiene regulations, and much else that often seemed only tangentially related to matters of domestic commerce. He became known to his colleagues as the Secretary of Commerce and Undersecretary of Everything Else...

Coolidge didn't like most people, but he seemed especially not to like Hoover. "That man has offered me unsolicited advice for six years, all of it bad!" Coolidge once barked when the subject of Hoover came up. In April 1927, Coolidge puzzled the world by issuing a statement proclaiming that Hoover would never be appointed Secretary of State...Why Coolidge issued the statement at all, and why with such finality, was a matter that puzzled every political commentator in the country. As Hoover had indicated no desire for the role, and the incumbent, Frank B. Kellogg, no inclination to leave it, they were as bewildered as everyone else.

With withering disdain Coolidge referred to his tireless Commerce Secretary as Wonder Boy, but though he sneered, he was glad to have someone to do so much of his work for him....(W)hen the Mississippi flooded as it never had before, it was to Herbert Hoover that President Coolidge turned. One week after making his enigmatic promise not to promote Hoover to the role of Secretary of State, Coolidge appointed him to head the relief efforts to deal with the emergency. Apart from that one act, Coolidge did nothing. He declined to visit the flooded areas. He declined to make any federal funds available or to call a special session of Congress. He declined to make a national radio broadcast appealing for private donations. He declined to provide the humorist Will Rogers with a message of hope and goodwill that Rogers could read out as part of a national broadcast. He declined to supply twelve signed photographs to be auctioned off for the relief of flood victims.

-- The weird relationship between the equally weird Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover, via One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO), courtesy Anchor Books (2014).

[deadpresidents]

Herbert Hoover saved so many children's lives in war torn Europe, but popular history doesn't tell people about that.

That is very true. A lot of people don't know that part of Hoover's story. And he didn't just save children; he helped feed literally MILLIONS of people around the world during and after World War I.

Hoover was also one of the most effective Cabinet members in American history. He was Secretary of Commerce under President Harding and continued in that role throughout the Coolidge Administration following Harding's death in office. And while his title was Commerce Secretary, he was basically the troubleshooter for any major Executive Branch issue that needed efficient management for both President Harding and President Coolidge. He may have nominally been in charge of the Commerce Department, but he was basically Secretary of Everything. And he was extraordinarily successful in that role.

Honestly, if Hoover had never been elected President, he'd probably be remembered as one of the great figures of the 20th Century. Unfortunately for him, he became President just months before the 1929 stock market crash and was Chief Executive throughout the worst of the Great Depression. And despite all of his immense talents as an administrator and at mastering the logistics of government bureaucracy, he didn't have an inspirational bone in his body, and the country needed a good President and an inspirational leader who could shine a light to help find a way out of the Great Depression. Hoover was an engineer rather than a politician, and his dour, aloof personality was the worst possible fit for the times in which he served as President. When he was soundly defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 election, a major reason was because the charismatic FDR was the anti-Hoover.

Much like Jimmy Carter, Hoover accomplished far more in his career outside of the Presidency than he did during his term of office. And it's unfortunate that he's not better remembered for his role as one of the greatest humanitarians America has ever produced.

[deadpresidents]

President Calvin Coolidge returning from the U.S. Capitol following his Inauguration, March 4, 1925.

[deadpresidents]

Blister: The Day Calvin Coolidge Lost His Favorite Son and His Passion for the Presidency

Early in the day on June 30, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge gathered his family at the White House for a series of photographs.  The President and his wife, Grace, stood in the center of one photograph, with Rob Roy, one of their beloved dogs between them.  The Coolidge's oldest son, John, stood closest to Grace.  Although he was not quite 18 years old, John looked serious and mature, which is how he acted, as well.  Like his father, John Coolidge would grow to be a man of few words, and he was already off to a quiet start.

President Coolidge had assumed the Presidency almost a year earlier.  Elected as Warren G. Harding's Vice President, Calvin Coolidge was visiting his father's farmhouse in Plymouth, Vermont on August 2, 1923 when a messenger arrived notifying him that President Harding had suddenly died in San Francisco.  Coolidge's father -- a notary public -- administered the Presidential oath of office to his son.  The new President then went back to sleep.  When asked how he felt about assuming the Presidency, Coolidge would later say, "I thought I could swing it." 

Coolidge quickly took the reigns of government, cleaned out the corrupt members of Harding's Cabinet, and was presiding over a stable, prosperous nation.  Just two weeks before the photos were taken at the White House, the Republicans had officially made Coolidge their 1924 Presidential nominee.  The popular President was happy, healthy, enjoyed his job, and headed to an easy victory in his own right in November.

Standing next to the President was his namesake, Calvin Jr.  While John possessed much of his father's reticence, 16-year-old Calvin Jr. had a lively, effervescent personality similar to their mother's disposition.  Many people didn't realize that President Coolidge also had a hidden mischievous streak -- not a mean-spirited one, but a fun, dry sense of humor that Calvin Jr. clearly inherited.  President Coolidge doted on Calvin Jr.  Without jealousy or resentment, John Coolidge freely acknowledged that Calvin Jr. was their father's favorite.

After a few more photographs, the teens were eager to change out of their suits and put on some less formal clothing.  Both boys were enjoying their summer vacation from school and on this final day of June, the sunny White House tennis courts looked very appealing for an afternoon match. 

While their father returned to his work inside the White House, the Coolidge brothers hit the courts on the South Grounds of the Executive Mansion.  John and Calvin Jr. battled through several games of tennis, and we can assume that they spared no effort to defeat each other -- teenage boys, especially brothers separated in age by less than two years, know no other way.  Calvin Jr.'s foot started bothering him at some point, so they ended their contest and headed back inside the White House.

Calvin Jr. -- whether it was from the haste of changing out of his formal clothing for the photographs or the neglect of a 16-year-old more focused on fun than safety -- had competed all afternoon in tennis shoes without wearing socks.  The constant movement led to a blister on one of his toes, and while teenagers frequently develop blisters in their hectic, athletic adventures, this was different.  The blister on the toe of the President's youngest son quickly became infected and Calvin Jr. spiked a fever.

The next few days were a blur for the President, his family, and an anxious nation.  Calvin Jr.'s blister and infection had led to severe blood poisoning.  Much like Abraham Lincoln when his favorite son was dying of typhoid fever in the midst of the Civil War, President Coolidge tried to fulfill his duties while worrying about Calvin Jr.  As the 16-year-old's health continued to deteriorate, the President seemed to be in shock, zig-zagging constantly through the White House from his office to Calvin Jr.'s sickbed.

July 4, 1924 was the nation's 148th birthday and President Coolidge's 52nd birthday, but nobody was celebrating.  A day earlier, Calvin Jr. had been moved to Walter Reed Medical Center as some of the country's top doctors tried to save the life of the President's son.  Noting that Independence Day was his birthday, President Coolidge wrote a short letter to his father in Vermont.  "Calvin is very sick," the President wrote, "so this is not a happy day for me."  Still holding out hope, Coolidge added, "Of course he has all that medical science can give but he may have a long sickness with ulcers, then again he may be better in a few days."

On July 7, 1924 -- just a week after the happy, healthy First Family posed for their photographs at the White House -- Calvin Coolidge, Jr. died.  He was 16.

Many Americans thought of President Coolidge as the taciturn, expression-less, unemotional caricature in political cartoons and newspaper gossip, but in the day's after Calvin Jr.'s death, everyone was stunned by the open demonstration of the President's grief.  Coolidge wore a black armband for weeks.  Visitors to the Oval Office often found him to be inconsolable.  One friend found Coolidge sobbing at his desk while muttering "I just can't believe it has happened...I just can't believe it has happened."  When he received the bill for Calvin Jr.'s funeral services, the President refused to pay for several months, as if he was unable to come to terms with the fact that his son was gone.

President Coolidge was still in the middle of a Presidential campaign, but he didn't make any effort to win votes.  To many of his friends or colleagues, it seemed as if Coolidge no longer cared.  When he easily defeated John W. Davis in November to win election in his own right, Coolidge didn't celebrate.  The First Lady offered strength and support, but everything changed for Coolidge after Calvin Jr. died.  His health began to suffer.  Grace said that the President "lost his zest for living".  The Coolidge's surviving song, John, had gone off to college, and that may have compounded the President's loneliness and depression.  In 1992, John Coolidge (who died in 2000 at the age of 93) told Life Magazine "Calvin was my father's favorite. [His death] hurt him terribly.  It hurt us all."

Despite his popularity with the American people, Coolidge issued a simple 10-word statement on August 2, 1927 (the fourth anniversary of President Harding's death): "I do not choose to run for President in 1928."  The nation was surprised at his announcement, but Coolidge never officially explained his decision.  Yet, one simple sentence that Coolidge -- "the man of few words" or "Silent Cal" -- wrote in his Autobiography seems to sum everything up.  Writing about Calvin Jr., the former President wrote, "When he went, the power and the glory of the Presidency went with him."

Less than four years after leaving office, 60-year-old former President Calvin Coolidge was found dead at his home in Massachusetts after his broken heart finally gave out on him.