Calvin Coolidge: A Quiet Leader Worth Remembering

Our series on President Calvin Coolidge began with his observations about the Declaration of Independence in a speech delivered on the 150th anniversary of our nation’s founding.

Last week, we followed that with Coolidge’s reflections on the relationship between the Declaration and the Constitution, which was written 12 years later.

Coolidge viewed the Declaration as the document that establishes citizens’ rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Constitution, in turn, created the laws and institutions needed to protect those rights.

In his autobiography, Coolidge wrote of the Constitution:

“The more I study it, the more I have come to admire it, realizing that no other document devised by the hand of man ever brought so much progress and happiness to humanity. The good it has wrought can never be measured.”

But who was this man who served as our 30th president a century ago?

To many Americans, Coolidge is a forgotten president. Some historians treat him as little more than a placeholder between Theodore Roosevelt and his cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt. His life and public career, however, tell a more meaningful story.

Coolidge was born July 4, 1872, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. The small village remains much as it was in his time. Virginians might compare it to nearby White Post. It is still a quiet, beautiful place worth visiting.

He grew up as the son of a farmer and lived a simple life. His father, Col. John Coolidge, was a major influence on him.

The elder Coolidge was a community leader who served as sheriff, tax collector, and a member of the Vermont legislature. He was also a notary public. That authority allowed him to swear in his son as president in August 1923 after President Warren G. Harding died in office.

Calvin Coolidge attended Amherst College in Massachusetts. He later studied law in Northampton, passed the bar, and entered private practice in that small city.

He became active in community affairs and Republican politics. His public career began with local offices, including service on school boards, before he moved through 11 positions of increasing responsibility in local and state government.

In 1919, he became governor of Massachusetts.

His handling of the Boston Police Strike brought him national recognition and helped lead to his nomination for vice president at the Republican National Convention in 1920.

Coolidge sympathized with underpaid police officers, but he enforced the no-strike clause in the police union’s contract.

“There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time,” he said.

That stand could have cost him politically. Boston’s Irish community, which made up a large part of the police force, had been an important and loyal constituency.

Coolidge nevertheless chose to enforce the rule of law rather than seek political favor. Massachusetts voters respected that decision and reelected him.

Over the next few weeks, I will examine Coolidge’s quiet leadership during one of the most prosperous periods in American history.

His emphasis on restraint, humility, and economy may also give us reason to examine our own time and ask whether we have lost sight of the values that once brought Americans to common ground.

Editor’s Note: Common Ground with Coolidge is a weekly feature connecting the words and principles of our 30th President, Calvin Coolidge, 100 years ago to modern civic life. The column is written by Lake Frederick resident and Coolidge family member Calvin(Cal) C. Coolidge, an eighth cousin of the president and Trustee Emeritus of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, with a focus on civility, constitutional principles, and finding common ground.