Calvin Coolidge biography

Coolidge was the first vice president to attend cabinet meetings, in addition to giving speeches and performing other official duties. The Coolidges attended Washington parties, where guests remarked on the terse and quiet demeanor of "Silent Cal.”

On August 2, 1923, President Harding died while traveling in California. Coolidge was in Vermont visiting his family home, which had neither electricity nor a telephone,

when a messenger brought word of Harding’s death.

Coolidge addressed Congress in December, giving the first presidential speech to be broadcast to the nation over the radio. His agenda mirrored Harding’s to a large extent. Coolidge signed the Immigration Act later that year, restricting immigration from southern and eastern European countries.

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 became depressed. In spite of his subdued campaigning, he won a popular vote majority of 2.5 million over his two opponents' combined total.

Policies

During Coolidge's presidency, the United States experienced the period of rapid economic growth that characterized the "Roaring Twenties." With the exception of favoring tariffs, Coolidge disdained regulation. Some contemporaries and historians have blamed his laissez-faire ideology for the Great Depression. Coolidge was also suspicious of foreign alliances, discouraging American membership in the League of Nations. Like Harding, Coolidge refused to recognize the Soviet Union.

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 1924, Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act, granting full citizenship to all Native Americans while permitting them to retain tribal land rights.

In the summer of 1927, Coolidge traveled to the Black Hills of South Dakota. During his vacation, Coolidge issued a short statement indicating that he would not seek a second full term as president. The statement read: "I do not choose to run for President in 1928.”

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