Calvin Coolidge Facts | 30th US PRESIDENT
US President: 1923-1929
US Vice President: 29th Vice President 1921-1923
Political Party: Republican
Birth: July 4, 1872 at Plymouth Notch, Vermont
Death: January 5, 1933 (aged 60) at Northampton, Massachusetts
Education: Black River Academy, Amherst College
30th President of the United States (1923 – 1929)
29th Vice President of the United States (1921 – 1923)
48th Governor of Massachusetts (1919 – 1921)
President of the Massachusetts Senate (1914 – 1915)
Mayor of Northampton, Massachusetts (1910 – 1911)
First Ladies: Grace Goodhue (m. 1905 – 1933)
Children: John Coolidge, Calvin Coolidge Jr.
Pictures of Grace Coolidge from the Library of Congress
Facts about Calvin Coolidge
Coolidge was the first vice president to attend cabinet meetings, in addition to giving speeches and performing other official duties. President Coolidge was nominated for the presidency in 1924. Shortly after the convention, however, he experienced a personal tragedy. Coolidge’s younger son, Calvin Jr., developed an infected blister and, several days later, died of sepsis.
Coolidge spoke out in favor of civil rights. He refused to appoint any known members of the Ku Klux Klan to office, appointed African Americans to government positions and advocated for anti-lynching laws.
In 1919, many Boston policemen went on strike after the city’s police commissioner tried to block their unionization with the American Federation of Labor. Coolidge took control of the situation, calling in the National Guard and speaking candidly with AFL leader Samuel Gompers. His actions, while discouraging to supporters of organized labor, made Coolidge a favorite among the nation’s conservatives, and laid the groundwork for his presidential run in 1920.
Shortly before his death, Coolidge confided to an old friend: “”I feel I no longer fit in with these times.””
- He supported lower taxes and smaller government.
- He spoke pointedly and understood the power of the press in spreading his words. Coolidge was the last President to write his own speeches and he deliberately kept them short.
- He regulated radio broadcast frequencies.
- Both Coolidge’s mother, Victoria Josephine Moor Coolidge, a sentimental and poetic woman, and younger sister, Abigail Gratia Coolidge, died while he was a teenager.
As vice president, Coolidge played little role in the Harding administration, although he attended cabinet meetings. He kept a low profile as President of the Senate – in those days the vice president’s chief duty – and mainly devoted himself to making public speeches.
Calvin Coolidge Childhood
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 died when he was 12 years old, and his teenage sister, Abigail Grace Coolidge, died several years later.
Coolidges 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 Amherst College in Massachusetts, and later apprenticed at a law firm in Northampton. In 1897, he was admitted to the bar, opening his own law office in 1898.
Where is Calvin Coolidge buried?
Coolidge is buried beneath a simple headstone in Plymouth Notch Cemetery, Plymouth Notch, Vermont, where the nearby family home is maintained as one of the original buildings on the Calvin Coolidge Homestead District site.
How did Calvin Coolidge die?
He died suddenly from coronary thrombosis at “”The Beeches,”” at 12:45 p.m., January 5, 1933.”
Calvin COOLIDGE Biography
COOLIDGE, Calvin, a Vice President and 30th President of the United States; born John Calvin Coolidge in Plymouth, Windsor County, Vt., July 4, 1872, but dropped John from his name upon graduating from college; attended the public schools, Black River Academy, Ludlow, Vt., and St. Johnsbury Academy; graduated from Amherst College, Massachusetts, in 1895; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1897 and commenced practice in Northampton, Mass.; member of the city council in 1899; city solicitor 1900-1902; clerk of courts in 1904; member, State house of representatives 1907-1908; resumed the practice of his profession in Northampton; elected mayor of Northampton in 1910 and 1911; member, State senate 1912-1915, and served as president of that body in 1914 and 1915; lieutenant governor of Massachusetts 1916-1918; Governor of Massachusetts 1919-1920;
Elected Vice President of the United States on the Republican ticket headed by Warren G. Harding in 1920; was inaugurated on March 4, 1921, and served until August 3, 1923; upon the death of President Warren G. Harding became President of the United States on August 3, 1923; elected President of the United States in 1924 for the term expiring March 3, 1929; was not a candidate for renomination in 1928; served as chairman of the Nonpartisan Railroad Commission and as honorary president of the Foundation of the Blind; died at The Beeches, Northampton, Mass., January 5, 1933; interment in Notch Cemetery, Plymouth, Vt.