🎩Calvin Coolidge

30th President · 1923–1929 · Republican

Calvin Coolidge succeeded to the presidency when Warren G. Harding died, and his father — a Vermont notary public — administered the oath of office by kerosene lamp at 2:47 AM on August 3, 1923. Coolidge was famously taciturn ("Silent Cal") and famously fiscally conservative. His five and a half years presided over most of the economic boom of the Roaring Twenties — a boom that ended disastrously seven months after he left office.

The Massachusetts Governor

Coolidge was born on the 4th of July (the only U.S. president so born) and rose through Massachusetts Republican politics. As governor, his crisp 1919 handling of the Boston Police Strike — telegraphing that "there is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time" — made him a national figure. He was placed on the 1920 Republican ticket as Harding's running mate.

Quiet Restoration

After Harding's death, Coolidge quietly distanced himself from the corrupt Ohio Gang and restored trust in the presidency. He won the 1924 election decisively. His administration's philosophy was famously simple: "The chief business of the American people is business." He cut taxes repeatedly, reduced federal spending, and left the economy largely to itself.

The Roaring Twenties

Most of Coolidge's presidency was boom time. GDP grew sharply, unemployment fell below 5%, consumer credit and stock-market investment surged, and Americans bought the first mass-produced cars, radios, and appliances. Critics later argued that under-regulation of banks and the stock market during Coolidge's term set the stage for the crash of 1929; Coolidge himself expressed private worry about speculation before leaving office.

I Do Not Choose to Run

In August 1927, Coolidge surprised the country with a laconic statement: "I do not choose to run for president in 1928." He declined re-nomination, opening the door for Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover. Coolidge retired to Northampton, Massachusetts and died in January 1933, midway through the Great Depression that his successor had been unable to halt.

Coolidge Trivia

• He is the only president born on the Fourth of July.
• A White House dinner guest bet she could get Coolidge to say more than two words; his reply was "You lose."
• Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, granting U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States.
• He kept a pet raccoon named Rebecca in the White House.
• Herbert Hoover, his successor, later said, "Had Coolidge been President, there would have been no Great Depression."

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