Dr. Hartnell's Nutty the A.D.D. Squirrel
  • Home
  • All About Nutty
  • Nutty's Chapters
  • Ch. 1: How'd We Get Here?
    • Ch. 1: Table of Contents
    • Ch. 1: Summary
    • Why study history?
    • Is history a lie?
    • Geography 101
    • Ancient History: Dirt-476
    • Collapse & Rebirth: 476-1650
    • Colonialism: 1400-1763
    • Revolutions: 1763-1918
    • America: 1775-1900
  • Ch. 2: America 2.0
    • Ch. 2: Table of Contents
    • Ch. 2: Summary
    • Imperialism: 1850-1914
    • Immigration: 1492-Now
    • Reform: 1877-1920
  • Ch. 3: Ka-Boom to Bust
    • Ch. 3: Table of Contents
    • Ch. 3: Summary
    • America: 1914-1939
  • Ch. 4: King America
    • Ch. 4: Table of Contents
    • Ch. 4: Summary
    • America: 1939-1960
  • Ch. 5: The American Overhaul
    • Ch. 5: Table of Contents
    • Ch. 5: Summary
    • America: 1960-1975
  • Ch. 6: The U.S. of Awesome
    • Ch. 6: Table of Contents
    • Ch. 6: Summary
    • America: 1975-Now
  • Nutty's Nuts
  • References
Picture

Scramblin' thru... the U.S. Presidents

Picture

Picture

"Silent Cal"
"Cool Cal"
"Cautious Cal"
"The Silencer
"

Picture

Personal Information


Picture
July 4, 1872
Plymouth Notch, Vermont
Picture
January 5, 1933
(age 60)
Northhampton, Mass.
Picture
Cause of Death:
Myocardial infarction
(a.k.a. heart attack)

Picture
Height: 5'10"
Picture
Weight: 147 lbs.
Picture
Congregationalist

Picture
Level: College
(Amherst College)
Picture
Married: Once
(Grace, 1905)
Picture
Biological Kids: 2

Picture
Wrote:
1 book
Picture
Career BEFORE Presidency:
lawyer, Governor of Massachusetts, Vice President under Harding
Picture
Career AFTER Presidency:
writer, President of the American Antiquarian Society

Picture

Presidential Information


Picture
Began: August 2, 1923
(age 51) 
Picture
Ended: March 4, 1929
(age 56)
Picture
# Months Served: 67
(1 full term)

Picture
# Vice Presidents: 1
(Charles G. Dawes)
Picture
Political Affiliation:
Republican
Picture
Salary:
$75,000/year

Picture

Election Information


Election of 1924

Picture
[Click map for a larger version.]
Picture
[Click chart for a larger version.]

Picture

A Presidential Life in Review


Picture
Click on the banner above to go to the Calvin Coolidge homepage at the University of Virginia's Miller Center. Click on the buttons below for in-depth information about Coolidge's Presidency.
A life in brief
Life before the presidency
Campaigns & elections
Domestic Affairs
Foreign Affairs
Key events in office
How Americans Lived
Life after the presidency
family life
Impact & legacy
Picture
Calvin Coolidge, the 30th U.S. President from 1923 to 1929, led the nation through most of the "Roaring Twenties", a decade of dynamic social and cultural change, materialism, and excess. He took office following the sudden death of President Warren G. Harding. Nicknamed "Silent Cal" for his quiet and frugal nature, Coolidge, a former Governor of Massachusetts, cleaned up the corruption of the Harding Administration and provided stability and respectability for the American people in an era of fast-paced modernization. He was a pro-business conservative who favored tax cuts and limited spending by the Federal Government. However, many of these laissez-faire policies later contributed to the Great Depression (1929-1942). While he could have won re-election in 1928, Coolidge publicly announced his decision not to run in 1927... in a simple note delivered to reporters at a press conference. Coolidge died at his home in Massachusetts in 1933. Source: The History Channel
Picture

Picture

Historical Rankings


Picture
Picture

Click here to learn more about the C-SPAN Survey

Picture

Picture

Calvin Coolidge Fun Facts


Picture
Picture
Coolidge liked to have his head rubbed with petroleum jelly while eating his breakfast in bed. (You know, some stuff you just CAN'T make up...)

Picture
Coolidge is the only President born on Independence Day. He was born on July 4, 1872.

Picture
Coolidge was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, elected as Mayor of Northampton, elected to the Massachusetts Senate, and the won re-election as U.S. President in 1924. (He became President in 1923 because he was Vice President when Warren G. Harding died in office. He chose not to run for a second term in 1928.) Interestingly enough, the only defeat of his entire political career was when he was defeated to win a seat... on the Northampton School Board. 

Picture
Coolidge met his wife, Grace, after she caught sight of him shaving in front of a window in nothing but long underwear and a hat. The hat, apparently, was worn to keep the hair out of his face while he shaved. Suuuuuure it was, Cal, suuuuuure it was...

Picture
In 1925, Coolidge became the first President to be sworn in by a former President, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Howard Taft. His father, a justice of the peace and a notary, assisted in the swearing in... which took place at 2:47am. Afterwards, Coolidge went back to sleep.

Picture
It was during his time as Vice President that Coolidge earned the nickname "Silent Cal". Though he was known for being an eloquent public speaker, in private he was withdrawn and quiet, typically deferring to his wife, Grace, who was equally known for her outgoing personality. His tendency to withdraw from social situations intensified after the death of his son in 1924. Also contributing to Coolidge's reluctance to speak was his fear of screwing up. In his autobiography, Coolidge noted, "The words of a President have an enormous weight and ought not to be used indiscriminately." He often said, "If you don't say anything, you won't be called upon to repeat it."

Picture
As though he wasn't quiet enough, whenever Coolidge was having a private conversation with his family... they would all "speak" in sign language.

Picture
Coolidge was an animal lover and had many pets in the White House. Aside from numerous cats and dogs, he also had a donkey named Ebenezer, a goose that had once starred in a Broadway play, and a raccoon named Rebecca, who often sat on his shoulder as he walked around the White House. His dog's drinking bowl was kept in the White House's State Dining Room.

Picture
Every day, Coolidge rode an electronic horse that he installed in the White House.

Picture
While Governor of Massachusetts, Coolidge was once punched in the eye by the Mayor of Boston. 

Picture
While President, Coolidge would not use a telephone... because he refused.
Picture
Coolidge opted not to run for re-election in 1928, noting that it would mean he would be President for 10 years, and 10 years was "simply too much". (Remember, he had finished out the remaining two years of Warren G. Harding's term.) Coolidge announced his decision not to seek re-election in a statement that was true to his style. In it, he simply said: "I do not choose to run for President in 1928." He delivered the statement on handwritten strips of paper to reporters traveling with him on his summer vacation in 1927. The announcement took many people by surprise. On the day of the decision, reporters, asked his wife, Grace, what she thought of the announcement. "What announcement?" she replied. Classic Cal...

Picture
Coolidge's wife, Grace, once recounted that a young woman sitting next to Coolidge at a dinner party confided to him that she had bet she could get at least three words of conversation out of him. Without looking at her, Coolidge quietly said, "You lose."

Picture
Due to chronic stomach pains, Coolidge averaged 10-11 hours of sleep a night... and took afternoon naps that lasted from two to four hours. He insisted that his sleep habits were a positive for the U.S. -  if he was asleep, he couldn't mess anything up - and often woke up and asked an aide, "Is the country still here?"  One evening, Coolidge attended the theater to see the Marx Brothers perform Animal Crackers. Upon noticing Coolidge in the audience, Groucho Marx yelled to him, "Isn't it past your bedtime, Calvin?"

Picture
During the 1924 campaign in which Coolidge won a Presidential term of his own, he answered questions for reporters who had been pleading for a question-and-answer session. One reporter asked, "Have you any statement on the campaign?" Coolidge said, "No." Another reporter asked, "Can you tell us something about the world situation?" Coolidge said, "No." Another reporter then shouted, "Any information about Prohibition?"  Coolidge said, "No." Knowing that they weren't going to get anything new from Coolidge, the reporters began to disperse. As they walked away, Coolidge retorted, "Now, remember... don't quote me."

Picture
On January 5, 1933, Coolidge quietly worked on a jigsaw puzzle of George Washington in an upstairs bedroom of their house in Northampton, Massachusetts. His wife, Grace, went into town to do some shopping at about noon, but when she came home about an hour later, she found Coolidge sprawled on the floor, dead of a heart attack. Fittingly, Coolidge's last words went unrecorded... and his Last Will and Testament was a total of just 23 words in length. Still, perhaps the most appropriate tribute to Coolidge may have come from The New Yorker's reporter Dorothy Parker. When told that Coolidge was dead, Parker said, "How can they tell?"

Picture

Presidential Portraits


Picture
Interestingly enough, this movie still out grosses any Tyler Perry movie... [Click picture for a larger version.]
Picture
Well there you go! President Coolidge - and his sweet short tie - was behind Global Warming all this time... [Click picture for a larger version.]

Picture

Presidential Signature


Picture

Picture

Previous President

Picture
[Click picture to visit the previous President.]

Next President

Picture
[Click picture to visit the next President.]

Click here to return to the U.S. Presidential Index