Calvin Coolidge

Coolidge, Calvin,

1872–1933, 30th President of the United States (1923–29), b. Plymouth, Vt. John Calvin Coolidge was a graduate of Amherst College and was admitted to the bar in 1897. He practiced (1897–1919) law in Northampton, Mass., entered state politics as a Republican, and rose steadily in the party. He served (1910–11) as mayor of Northampton, was a member of the Massachusetts state senate from 1912 to 1915 (its president after 1914), and was (1916–19) lieutenant governor before serving (1919–21) as governor. Coolidge rose to national prominence when he used the militia to end the Boston police strike in 1919. In 1920 he was nominated as Republican candidate for the vice presidency and was elected with Warren G. Harding. After Harding died, Coolidge took (Aug. 3, 1923) the oath of office as President. Untouched by the scandals of the Harding administration, he was easily elected to a full term in 1924. His personal honesty and New England simplicity appealed to the American people, and his unquestioning faith in the conservative business values of laissez faire reflected the national mood. Coolidge's policies were aggressively pro-business. Through his appointees he transformed the Federal Trade Commission from an agency intended to regulate corporations into one dominated by big business. He twice vetoed (1927, 1928) the McNary-Haugen bill to aid agriculture and pocket-vetoed (1928) a bill for government operation of the Muscle Shoals hydroelectric plant. The presence in his cabinet of Herbert C. Hoover and Andrew W. Mellon added to the business tone of his administration, and Coolidge supported Mellon's program of tax cuts and economy in government. Through his public statements he encouraged the reckless stock market speculation of the late 1920s and left the nation unprepared for the economic collapse that followed. Coolidge chose not to seek renomination in 1928. After leaving office he retired to Northampton to write newspaper and magazine articles and his autobiography (1929, repr. 1989). As first lady, his wife, Grace A. Goodhue Coolidge, was much admired for her poise and charm. A selection of his press conferences was edited by H. H. Quint and R. H. Ferrell (1964).

Bibliography

See biographies by C. M. Fuess (1940), D. R. McCoy (1967, repr. 1988), J. Abels (1969), W. A. White (1938, repr. 1973), R. Sobel (1998), and A. Shlaes (2013).

Coolidge, Calvin

Born July 4, 1872, in Plymouth, Vt; died Jan. 5, 1933, in Northampton, Mass. American political figure; lawyer by profession.

In 1918–19, Coolidge, a member of the Republican Party, served as governor of Massachusetts. From 1921 to 1923 he was vice-president and from 1923 to 1929, the 30th president of the USA. (He became president after the death of President W. Harding.) In the interests of the monopolies the Coolidge government raised tariffs, hindered the implementation of legislation designed to aid farmers, and waged a struggle against the workers’ movement. It opposed US participation in the League of Nations, conducted an expansionist policy in Latin America and the Far East, and facilitated the restoration of the military potential of German imperialism (for example, through the Dawes Plan). Coolidge adopted a hostile position toward the USSR and refused to grant it diplomatic recognition.

Coolidge, Calvin

(1872–1933) 30th U.S. president; nicknamed “Silent Cal.” [Am. Hist.: Frank, 99]See: Taciturnity

Coolidge, (John) Calvin

(1872–1933) thirtieth U.S. president; born in Plymouth, Vt. After graduating from Amherst College (1895), he became a lawyer in Northampton, Mass. As a Republican, he held a series of local and state offices until becoming governor of Massachusetts (1919–20); he gained national attention for using the state militia to suppress a police strike. Elected vice-president in 1920, he succeeded to the presidency on Warren Harding's death in 1923. He was reelected the next year. A popular and deliberately hands-off president in prosperous times, he was noted more for what he did not do and say than for what he did (although among his oft-quoted phrases is his 1925 remark, "the business of America is business."). In his private life he was equally noted for his taciturn, thrifty ways. After leaving the White House, he retired to Northampton and wrote various articles promoting his conservative views as well as his autobiography (1929).

Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge

Coolidge, Calvin,

Bibliography

Coolidge, Calvin

Coolidge, Calvin

Coolidge, (John) Calvin

Calvin Coolidge

Synonyms for Calvin Coolidge

noun elected vice president and succeeded as 30th President of the United States when Harding died in 1923 (1872-1933)

Synonyms