Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge (July 4, 1872 - January 5, 1933) was the 30th President of the United States between 1923 and 1929.

Family Life
He was the only President of the United States to be born on the 4th of July. He was married to Grace Coolidge and had 2 children:

John Calvin Coolidge III (born September 6, 1906 - died 31 May 2000) and John Calvin Jr. (born 13 April 1908 - died 7 July 1924). His younger son John Calvin Coolidge IV died at 16 while playing tennis at the White House. His son was wearing tennis shoes without socks and died from a toe infection. He was buried at the foot of Hill Cemetery.

Political career
Coolidge served as the Mayor of Northampton, Massachusetts. He later served as the Governor of Massachusetts. As governor, he became famous because of his response during the Boston Police Strike. Coolidge fired the police who went on strike and gave the jobs to unemployed World War 1 veterans (he gave the same bonuses that the striking policemen asked for to the veterans).

In 1920, he was nominated Vice President under Warren G. Harding. The Harding-Coolidge team won easily. Harding died in 1923 and Coolidge became the next President.

Coolidge finished Harding's term and was elected in 1924 to continue to be the country's president.

Coolidge was president during a prosperous economy and the country did not face many challenges. He believed that the federal government should be as small as possible. He supported tax cuts and wanted the federal government to keep its hands off the economy.

Coolidge was criticized for refusing to give subsidies to farmers and when a giant flood happened in Mississippi during 1927, he did not want the federal government to be involved. This was part of his belief of federalism, that the country's problems should be solved mainly by state governments and local governments rather than the federal government.

He surprised many people by choosing not to run for re-election during 1928.

The legacy of Calvin Coolidge is mixed. People who support more federal government involvement in the economy do not like him. People who support less federal government involvement in the economy like him.

Silent Cal
Calvin Coolidge was nicknamed "Silent Cal" because he did not talk much.

Other websites

 * Coolidge's White House biography