30.+Calvin+Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge Biography: John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., was born in Plymouth Notch, Windsor Country, Vermont, on July 4, 1872, the only U.S. President to be born on Independence Day.  ﻿ ﻿ He was the elder of the two children of John Calvin Coolidge, Sr. and Victoria Josephine. Coolidge's chronically ill mother died, perhaps from tuberculosis, when he was twelve years old. His sister, Abigail Grace Coolidge, died at the age of fifteen, when Coolidge was eighteen. Coolidge's father remarried in 1891, to a schoolteacher, and lived to the age of eighty. Coolidge senior engaged in many occupations, and ultimately enjoyed a statewide reputation as a prosperous farmer, storekeeper and public servant; he farmed, taught school, ran a local store, served in the Vermont House of Representatives and the Vermont Senate, and held various local offices including justice of the peace and tax collector. Coolidge's mother was the daughter of a Plymouth Notch farmer.

In 1905, Coolidge met and married a fellow Vermonter, Grace Anna Goodhue, who was working as a teacher at the Clarke School for the Deaf. They were married on October 4, 1905, in the parlor of her parents' home in Burlington, Vermont.

﻿Election Day: At 2:30 on the morning of August 3, 1923, while visiting in Vermont, Calvin Coolidge received word that he was President. By the light of a kerosene lamp, his father, who was a notary public, administered the oath of office as Coolidge placed his hand on the family Bible. Born in Plymouth, Vermont, on July 4, 1872, Coolidge was the son of a village storekeeper. He was graduated from Amherst College with honors, and entered law and politics in Northampton, Massachusetts. Slowly, methodically, he went up the political ladder from councilman in Northampton to Governor of Massachusetts, as a Republican. At 2:30 on the morning of August 3, 1923, while visiting in Vermont, Calvin Coolidge received word that he was President. By the light of a kerosene lamp, his father, who was a notary public, administered the oath of office as Coolidge placed his hand on the family Bible.

Accomplishments: ﻿ Calvin Coolidge established a law practice in Northhampton, Massachusetts, but soon developed an interest in politics. A conservative Republican, he moved steadily through the political ranks, from Northampton City Councilman (1899), City Solicitor (1900-01), Clerk of Courts (1904), Member of Massachusetts Legislature (1907-08), Mayor of Northampton (1910-11), Member of Massachusetts Legislature (1912-15), Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts (1916-18) to Governor of Massachusetts (1918-20).

In domestic affairs, Coolidge advocated more cuts in federal taxation and spending, maintaining a high protective tariff, and realigning regulatory policy to favor business. He also blocked the McNary Haugen scheme that called, in part, for a federal farm board to purchase surplus farm production at pre-World War I prices. Among his administration's diplomatic accomplishments were the Dawes Plan for restructuring German reparations, the Stimson accords for pacifying Nicarauga, and the Kellogg-Briand Pact for outlawing war.