'The chief business of the American people is business' (1925)
From a speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors
US Presidents · 20th century
Calvin Coolidge
1872–1933 · American
Republican
In office: 1923–1929
Calvin Coolidge, a laconic New Englander nicknamed "Silent Cal", became nationally famous as governor of Massachusetts for breaking the 1919 Boston Police Strike. As Harding's vice-president he succeeded to the presidency in 1923, being sworn in by his own father by lamplight, and as the 30th president presided over the prosperity of the Roaring Twenties with low taxes and limited government. He declined to run again in 1928.
How to spot them
- ▸'Silent Cal'; born on the Fourth of July
- ▸Sworn in by his father, a notary public, by kerosene lamp at Plymouth Notch, Vermont, in 1923
- ▸'The chief business of the American people is business'
- ▸'I do not choose to run for President in 1928'
- ▸The Boston Police Strike of 1919
In office
'I do not choose to run for President in 1928' (1927)
Handed to reporters on slips of paper while on holiday in the Black Hills of South Dakota
The Indian Citizenship Act (1924)
Granted US citizenship to all Native Americans born in the US
The Kellogg–Briand Pact (1928)
An international treaty renouncing war, negotiated by his Secretary of State Frank Kellogg
Sworn in by lamplight at his father's farmhouse (1923)
Took the oath from his father after Harding's sudden death
Quick-fire facts
- •The 30th President of the United States
- •The only president born on 4 July (1872), at Plymouth Notch, Vermont
- •As governor of Massachusetts said: 'There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time'
- •His 1925 inauguration was the first to be broadcast nationally on radio
- •His son Calvin Jr. died in 1924 from an infected blister after playing tennis
- •Kept a pet raccoon named Rebecca at the White House
- •On hearing of his death in 1933, Dorothy Parker reportedly asked: 'How can they tell?'
Drill it — 6 cards
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Sources
- Miller Center, University of Virginia — Calvin Coolidge
- Amity Shlaes — Coolidge