Calvin Coolidge Fact Sheet: Who was Calvin Coolidge? The following short biography and fact sheet provides interesting facts about the life, times and history of Calvin Coolidge.

Calvin Coolidge Fact File Biography: Lifespan: 1872 - 1933 *** Full Name: John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. *** Occupation: American Lawyer, Politician and 30th President of the United States *** Date of Birth: Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4th 1872 *** Place of Birth: Calvin Coolidge was born in Plymouth Notch, Windsor County, Vermont, U.S. *** Family background: His father was John Calvin Coolidge and his mother was Victoria Josephine Moor. His father had been a prosperous farmer, storekeeper and public servant including being a justice of the peace and a tax collector *** Early life and childhood: He grew up with a younger sister called Abigail Grace although she died at fifteen of appendicitis, his mother also died when he was just twelve years of age it is believed of tuberculosis *** Education: Calvin Coolidge attended Black River Academy and went on to Amherst College ***

Calvin Coolidge Fact 1: Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4th 1872 and during the 19th century period in history when slavery would largely become abolished during this century with salve revolts in Britain, Haiti and France. In particular in America the Civil War of 1861 to 1864 saw the abolition of slavery and in England the Slavery Abolition Act saw the British Royal Navy put an end to the global slave trade.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 2: Calvin Coolidge was the only President of the United States born on Independence Day.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 3: After graduating his father encouraged him to move to Northampton in Massachusetts and become a lawyer. In order to avoid having to pay to go to law school, common practice of the time was to apprentice to a law firm which he did, Hammond & Field, and would be accepted to the bar as a country lawyer.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 4: During 1905 he met Grace Anna Goodhue and they married. He wrote of her after twenty five years together “… for almost a quarter of a century she has borne with my infirmities and I have rejoiced in her graces.” Together they had two children.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 5: At the time that Coolidge began to take an interest in politics, the Republican Party were the leading party of the time and also supported by Hammond and Field who were already active in the political arena.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 6: By 1896 having campaigned on behalf of the current Republican presidential candidate William McKinley, he himself would be selected to become a member of the Republican City Committee the following year.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 7: During 1898 he was elected to the City Council for Northampton and although the position was not paid he still offered valuable political experience.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 8: The following year he ran for City Solicitor and was elected for two terms.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 9: By 1906 he would be elected for the state House of Representatives by the local Republican committee and won and would gain a reputation as a Progressive Republican.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 10: Having served one term he would be elected for a second but when it came to the third he decided it was time to return home and for mayor of Northampton and won.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 11: As mayor he managed to decrease taxes by a small amount while retiring some of the city’s debt and also managed to raise the salaries of teachers. He was nominated for a second term and won by somewhat larger margin against the same opponent.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 12: The State Senator for the Hampshire County area retired in 1911 and encouraged Coolidge to run in the 1912 session. He won by a considerable margin.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 13:  By 1914 he won his re-election to the Senate and also was re-elected to be the President of the Senate. By the end of 1915 he had been persuaded to run for lieutenant governor.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 14: His running mate would be Samuel W McCall and they won the election in 1915.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 15: For the 1918 election for Governor of Massachusetts he ran unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 16: In 1919 during the Boston Police Strike Calvin Coolidge came out for much in favor of Police Commissioner Edwin U Curtis who categorically stated that policemen, as public servants, should not strike and leave the city unguarded.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 17: Samuel Gompers sent a telegram to Coolidge in which he stated “Whatever disorder has occurred is due to Curtis’s order in which the right the policemen has been denied.” To which Coolidge replied “Your assertion that the Commissioner was wrong cannot justify the wrong of leaving the city unguarded. That furnished the opportunity; the criminal element furnished the action. There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, any time. … I am equally determined to defend the sovereignty of Massachusetts and to maintain the authority and jurisdiction over her public officers where it has been placed by the Constitution and laws of her people.” The dispute made national media and highlighted Coolidge as a decisive leader and rumblings began about his running for the office of President in the 1920 election.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 18: Delegates were chosen by state party conventions instead of primaries during the 1920 Republican National Convention. Coolidge although placing relatively high in the voting was not taken seriously enough but would be chosen to run as Vice President.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 19: Around this time Vice President’s did not have many official duties but it was President Harding that would invite Coolidge to attend cabinet meetings. During this period as VP he earned himself the nickname Silent Cal, although an effective and skilled public speaker, privately he was a quiet man and at public functions of which many were attended by him accompanied by his vibrant wife Grace he need do little talking.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 20: President Harding suddenly died on August 2nd 1923. At the time VP Coolidge was on a family vacation in Vermont when notified of the President’s untimely demise. John Calvin Coolidge Sr was a present and a notary public and so he administered the oath of office in the family parlour at 2.47 am on August 3rd 1923 by the light of a kerosene lamp.

Calvin Coolidge Fact 21: Calvin Coolidge was president of United States between 1923 and 1929. At the end of his presidency he retired to Northampton. On January 5th 1933 at his home “The Beeches” John Calvin Coolidge died of a coronary thrombosis. His body was laid to rest in the Plymouth Notch Cemetery, Plymouth Notch, Vermont.

Influence and Legacy of Calvin Coolidge: Ronald Reagan who would become the 40th President of the United States once said that Coolidge had been his favourite and most respected of previous presidents because of his handling of the Boston Police strike, likening it to a similar situation he himself faced with the air traffic controllers. He would be seen as a strong leader, a decisive leader if a somewhat quiet man.