Calvin Coolidge was the 30th President of the United States from 1923 to 1929. The images below are from a trip the President made back to his family home at Plymouth, Notch, Vermont during a summer break in 1926.
Coolidge’s visit the old family homestead at Plymouth Vermont 8/5/1926
Plymouth Vermont – The little town of Plymouth has again been honored by the presence of President and Mrs Coolidge, who left their summer home in Adirondacks to pay a visit of a few days, which included a visit to the little cemetery, where the President’s father was recently laid to rest and where Calvin Coolidge jr also sleeps. Photo shows President Coolidge, in the old garden of the Coolidge homestead.
Photo shows the crowd surrounding the old Coolidge homestead as the President and Mrs Coolidge arrive.
Mrs Coolidge takes time out from her brief trip to spend a little time relaxing.
President Calvin Coolidge Trivia
John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was born in Plymouth, Windsor County, Vermont, on July 4, 1872, and was the only U.S. President (so far) to be born on the 4th of July.
Calvin dropped his first name, John, after graduating from college.
In 1905, Mr Calvin Coolidge married Miss Grace Anna Goodhue, who was a local schoolteacher from Vermont.
Calvin began his career as a lawyer.
President Coolidge was not considered a serious candidate for either president or Vice President during the 1920 Republican Convention. In fact, he was 6th down the list. It was Senator Warren G Harding who won the Presidential nominee. By chance, when it was time to choose a nominee for Vice President, Senator Irvine Lenroot nominated Calvin Coolidge. He had just finished reading Have Faith in Massachusetts and decided to switch his vote to Coolidge (who had made his home in Massachusetts). The idea soon caught on and no one was more surprised than Coolidge when he was given the nod.
Interestingly, in 1920, the Democrats had nominated, James M. Cox, for President and Franklin D. Roosevelt, for Vice President.
On August 2nd, 1923, during the “Voyage of Understanding” tour, the 29th President of the United States, Warren Harding, died of an apparent heart attack.
Following President Warren Harding’s death in office, the Vice President, Calvin Coolidge, who was holidaying at his Plymouth Notch home at the time, became the first and only President to be sworn into office by his father. Coolidge’s dad was a Justice of the Peace, which allowed him to administer the oath of office. It was around 2:47 a.m. on August 3, 1923, by the light of a kerosene lamp in his father’s sitting room that Calvin Coolidge became President of the United States. His father refused to install modern conveniences such as electricity, gas, or even a telephone. Today the house is open to the general public and remains just as it was the night he was sworn in. For more information about the house check this website Vermont State Historical Sites.
When he was younger Coolidge was often called “Red” because of the colour of his hair but when he was older he was commonly referred to as “Silent Cal” (a man of few words). In fact when Mr. Robert Weir, a teacher at the Clarke Institute for the Deaf, introduced Miss Grace Anna Goodhue (future wife of Coolidge) to him, Weir remarked “having taught the deaf to hear, perhaps Miss Goodhue might cause the mute to speak!” Dorothy Parker once quipped “Mr. Coolidge, I’ve made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you.” The President replied, “You lose.”
The death of his mother (when he was 12 years old) had a profound effect on Calvin and as a result, he would carry a picture of her with him in a silver case all through his life. The picture was found in his pocket when he died.
In 1924 President Coolidge’s son Calvin Jr died after developing a blister on his toe whilst playing tennis without socks. The blister became infected but by the time little Calvin had told anyone, it was too late, the doctors could not save him.
Coolidge died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Northampton, “The Beeches,” at 12:45 p.m., January 5, 1933, at the age of 60 and was laid to rest in his home town beneath a simple headstone in Notch Cemetery.