50 Fun Facts About Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge was which number president of the United States?

He served from 1923 to 1929, between Warren Harding and Herbert Hoover.

What nickname did Coolidge's taciturn manner earn him?

He was said to be "silent in five languages", though he was a skilled public speaker.

Coolidge is the only US president born on which holiday?

He was born July 4, 1872, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont.

In which state was Coolidge born?

He built his political career in Massachusetts but was born and buried in Plymouth Notch, Vermont.

Where did Coolidge study, graduating cum laude?

He later named fellow Amherst alumnus Harlan F. Stone to the Supreme Court.

In which Massachusetts city did Coolidge practise law and serve as mayor?

He insisted on renting rather than buying a home there, and retired to "The Beeches" in the same town.

Where did Grace Goodhue teach when she met Coolidge?

Grace taught at Northampton's Clarke School for the Deaf and stayed on its board until her death in 1957.

What was Coolidge's only defeat at the ballot box?

Told neighbours voted against him because he had no children in the schools, the newlywed replied, "Might give me time!"

Which 1919 event made Governor Coolidge a national figure?

His reply to Samuel Gompers — "There is no right to strike against the public safety" — was reprinted nationwide.

Which labour leader received Coolidge's "no right to strike against the public safety" reply?

Gompers, head of the AFL, had wired that the disorder was the police commissioner's fault.

Which 1912 labour dispute did state senator Coolidge help arbitrate?

After two tense months the American Woolen Company in Lawrence accepted the committee's settlement.

Under which president did Coolidge serve as vice president?

Harding made him the first vice president to attend cabinet meetings.

Who did the 1920 convention bosses want as vice president before delegates chose Coolidge instead?

An Oregon delegate who had read Have Faith in Massachusetts proposed Coolidge after the bosses left the hall.

Who was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee Harding and Coolidge defeated in 1920?

Cox headed the Democratic ticket; the Republicans won over 60% of the popular vote.

Who administered Coolidge's first presidential oath of office in August 1923?

John Coolidge Sr., a notary and justice of the peace, swore him in by kerosene lamp at 2:47 a.m.

In which city did President Harding die, making Coolidge president?

Harding suffered a heart attack on a western speaking tour; word reached Coolidge by messenger in Vermont.

Why was Coolidge quietly sworn in a second time at the Willard Hotel?

Justice Adolph Hoehling's second swearing-in stayed secret until Harry Daugherty revealed it in 1932.

Which Harding-era scandal did Coolidge inherit on taking office?

He let Senate investigations run their course and forced out Attorney General Harry Daugherty for not cooperating.

Coolidge's December 1923 address to Congress was the first presidential speech to be what?

He said he was lucky to arrive with radio because he had "a good radio voice".

What did Coolidge's son Calvin Jr. die from in 1924?

The 16-year-old played tennis without socks, got a blister that turned septic, and died within about a week.

Which 1924 law signed by Coolidge made all Native Americans born in the US citizens?

About two-thirds were already citizens through marriage, military service or land allotments.

Which federal agency was established by the Immigration Act of 1924?

Coolidge signed it but objected in writing to its specific exclusion of Japanese immigrants.

Which Treasury Secretary's "scientific taxation" drove Coolidge's tax cuts?

Mellon was regarded by some, including John Nance Garner, as more powerful than Coolidge himself.

Who served as Coolidge's Secretary of Commerce and later succeeded him as president?

Coolidge grumbled that "for six years that man has given me unsolicited advice — all of it bad."

Who was Coolidge's vice president during his full term from 1925?

Lowden was nominated first and declined; Dawes and Coolidge later clashed over farm policy.

Which farm relief bill did Coolidge veto in both 1927 and 1928?

"Farmers never have made much money," he said. "I do not believe we can do much about it."

Which 1927 disaster is Coolidge criticised for not visiting?

He thought a visit would look like grandstanding and put Hoover in charge of a relief commission instead.

Which 1928 treaty, signed in Coolidge's term, pledged its signatories to renounce war?

Named for Secretary of State Frank Kellogg and French minister Aristide Briand, it underpins post-1945 international law.

Coolidge's only foreign trip as president was to a conference in which city?

He was the last sitting president to visit Cuba until Barack Obama in 2016.

Whom did Coolidge appoint to the Supreme Court in 1925?

Stone had been his attorney general; FDR later promoted him to chief justice.

Who became the first woman on the federal bench when Coolidge named her to the Customs Court?

Coolidge also signed the Judiciary Act of 1925, giving the Supreme Court more control over its docket.

Where was Coolidge on holiday when he announced he would not run in 1928?

His handwritten statement read, in full: "I do not choose to run for President in 1928."

Which word completes Coolidge's 1927 statement, "I do not choose to ___ for President in 1928"?

He added that ten years in Washington would be "longer than any other man has had it — too long!"

Coolidge said the chief concern of the American people is what?

The line came from a 1925 speech to newspaper editors about the press and commerce.

Which Washington wit said Coolidge looked as though he had been "weaned on a pickle"?

Dorothy Parker's line was saved for his death: "How can they tell?"

What did Coolidge supposedly say to a guest who bet she could get three words out of him?

Coolidge himself said in 1924 that the incident never happened.

Which Sioux name was Coolidge given when adopted into the tribe in 1927?

Henry Standing Bear named him White Chief and Protector of the Indians during his Black Hills summer.

Which aviator did Coolidge present with the Medal of Honor in 1927?

Lindbergh returned from his trans-Atlantic flight aboard a US Navy ship and the ceremony was filmed.

What kind of animal was Rebecca, the Coolidges' famous White House pet?

She scared the staff and eventually joined the other gifted animals at the zoo.

Coolidge was the first president to appear in what kind of motion picture, in 1924?

Theodore Case shot it on the White House lawn with the Phonofilm sound-on-film process.

Which Republican senator ran against Coolidge in 1924 on a new Progressive Party ticket?

La Follette carried only his home state of Wisconsin; Coolidge won 382 electoral votes.

Who was the Democratic nominee Coolidge defeated in 1924?

Davis emerged as a compromise candidate after a deadlocked convention took 103 ballots.

How many electoral votes did Coolidge win in 1924?

He carried every state outside the South except Wisconsin.

Harding and Coolidge won which Southern state in 1920, a GOP first since Reconstruction?

Harding and Coolidge took more than 60% of the popular vote and every state outside the South.

Which 1927 law created the commission that regulated broadcasting?

It also introduced the equal-time rule for broadcasters.

What did Coolidge do as president that no predecessor had done as vice president?

Harding invited him to sit in on the cabinet, a first for the office.

What was the name of the house Coolidge retired to?

He kept a Hacker runabout on the Connecticut River and wrote the column "Calvin Coolidge Says".

Coolidge died suddenly in January 1933 at what age?

Shortly before, he told a friend: "I feel I no longer fit in with these times."

Which later president replaced a Jefferson portrait in the Cabinet Room with one of Coolidge?

Reagan publicly praised Coolidge's laissez-faire approach in 1981.

As governor, Coolidge vetoed a 1920 bill that would have allowed what in Massachusetts?

He personally opposed Prohibition but said the bill violated the Eighteenth Amendment.