The Inauguration of Calvin Coolidge

"Silent Cal" Coolidge is most often remembered for his reticence. Coolidge: An American Enigma, written by Robert Sobel, is the basis for the recent article written by Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe. We've taken an excerpt from Jacoby's article about the modest yet dramatic inauguration ceremony of Coolidge.

"Seventy-five years ago, Calvin Coolidge was sworn in as the 30th president of the United States.....That night, back in 1923, was one of high drama. As President Harding lay dying in San Francisco, Vice President Coolidge was visiting his father and stepmother in the lonely Vermont village where he had grown up. There was no electricity in the house, no plumbing, no telephone. Light came from a kerosene lamp."

"Word of Harding's death reached White River Junction, the nearest large town, by telegram. By the time someone got the news to Plymouth Notch, it was extremely late. John Coolidge, the vice president's father, answered the knock at the door. In a trembling voice he called upstairs to his son."

"Coolidge and his wife returned to the bedroom," Sobel writes. "They washed, dressed, and knelt by the bed to pray. Then they went downstairs, where Coolidge dictated a message of sympathy to Mrs. Harding. The house was now crowded with reporters and others."

"The attorney general urged Coolidge to take the oath of office without delay. He "went across the street to the general store and telephoned Secretary of State (Charles Evans) Hughes, who informed him the oath could be administered by a notary. Coolidge returned home, and in the downstairs sitting room John Coolidge, using the family Bible, swore his son in as president. The time was 2:47 a.m."

Source: 75 Years of Underestimating Calvin Coolidge, Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe, August 1998.

If you are interested in ordering the book written by Robert Sobel, "Coolidge: An American Enigma," it is available in our Country Bookstore: History.