Calvin Coolidge: From Childhood Training to the Vice Presidency
John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was born on the 4th of July in 1872 in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. His ancestors had arrived in this picturesque area of the Green Mountains almost a century before. He was the firstborn child of John Calvin and Victoria Josephine Moor Coolidge, who had grown up together in Plymouth Notch. Calvin’s father was a farmer and a storekeeper. He later purchased the store, which included a post office and an upper level dance hall. Coolidge was born in a small apartment attached to the store. Three years later, his sister Abigail was born there.
After the birth of Abigail, the Coolidge family purchased the house across the road. John Coolidge repaired the home and added bay windows and a front porch. They called it the Homestead.
John Coolidge was also one of the founders of the local Plymouth Cheese Company. He was a civic minded citizen who served in various local and state offices, including the Vermont legislature. Calvin admired his father all his life and had a deep respect for him.
As a boy, Calvin helped with cutting hay, harvesting grain, husking corn, and keeping the wood box full.
Coolidge family woodshed
Young Calvin enjoyed the yearly times of making maple syrup and excelled at getting sap from the farm’s maple trees. From age 5, he attended the local grammar school. His hobbies were hunting, fishing, and horseback riding. He also sold apples, did chores at the store, and helped his father keep accounts and collect local taxes.
Calvin was close to his frail mother, who passed away on her 39th birthday in 1885. Calvin was 12 years old. In his autobiography, he told of her calling him and his sister to her bedside just an hour before she passed away to give them a blessing. He said “the greatest grief that can come to a boy came to me. Life was never to seem the same again.” For the rest of his life, he carried a locket with her picture.
The following year, he went to boarding school at Black River Academy, ten miles away in Ludlow, Vermont. His father, mother, and grandmother had all attended the school.
Ludlow 36 years before Calvin Coolidge arrived
At the academy, Calvin became especially interested in government and gained a deep respect for the U.S. Constitution. He wrote in his autobiography that “no other document devised by the hand of man ever brought so much progress and happiness to humanity.” While he was a student at Black River Academy, his sister joined him there.
Calvin graduated from Black River Academy in 1890. He and Abigail went home for the summer. She became ill of what was likely appendicitis and passed away at age 15.
The following year, Coolidge enrolled in Amherst College in Massachusetts. After graduation, he moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, studied law, and passed the bar exam. Coolidge worked in the Republican Club. He served on the city council, as city solicitor, and as county clerk. In his entire career, Coolidge lost only one election. He ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Northampton school board in 1905.
At age 33, Calvin Coolidge married Grace Anna Goodhue, a 26-year-old teacher of hearing-impaired students. The first time Grace saw Calvin, he was shaving by an open window at his boardinghouse with his hat on. Seeing the hat, she laughed out loud. A few months after they met, this quiet man told Grace: “I am going to be married to you.” Grace agreed. The following year they rented a duplex. It was their home for the next 24 years.
Rented duplex occupied by the Coolidge family from 1906 until after Coolidge left the presidency
The couple had two sons, John, born in 1906, and Calvin, born two years later.
Coolidge served as a Massachusetts state representative, mayor of Northampton, a Massachusetts state senator, and then lieutenant governor of Massachusetts. In 1918 he was elected governor of Massachusetts.
Governor Calvin Coolidge
In 1920 Governor Coolidge became the Republican candidate for vice president.
Harding and Coolidge won the election and were inaugurated in 1921.
Harding-Coolidge inauguration, 1921.
Two years later, Coolidge would be president, but that’s a story for tomorrow—a story with a big surprise.
Men of character helped to shape the heart of our 30th president. In addition to his father, Coolidge found several of his professors at Amherst to be what he called “men of character.” He especially appreciated his philosophy teacher, Charles E. Garman. He said that Garman taught his students to live a life of service, not being so concerned about what they get but about what they give. Coolidge devoted himself to a life of public service, just as he had seen his father do. Calvin Coolidge served in more different public positions than any other president in U.S. history.
When Paul said farewell to the elders of the church in Ephesus, he taught them to:
. . . remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said,
‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Acts 20:35b
To read Charlene’s entire series on Calvin Coolidge, click here.
Photos are courtesy of the Library of Congress.