President Coolidge: More than Two Words

A favorite story about President Calvin Coolidge is about a woman at a dinner party who had said to him that she made a bet that she could get him to say more than two words in conversation with her. He simply replied, “You lose.”

On Wednesday evening we were treated to a lot more than just a few of Calvin Coolidge’s remarks. The audience at the Brownell Library in Essex Junction, Vermont had the chance to go back in time to see and hear what it may have been like in the 1920’s to spend about an hour with the 30th President of the United States. 

The presentation was the final one for the season of the 1^st Wednesdays Vermont Humanities program. It was entitled Calvin Coolidge: More Than Two Words. The presenter was Jim Cooke, an actor who impersonates Calvin Coolidge. 

“Calvin Coolidge” reminisced about growing up on the family farm in rural Plymouth, Vermont. He suffered the loss of his mother at a young age and of his sister when he was a very young man. His opportunities for education and his involvement in various elective offices opened the way for political advancement.

When Calvin Coolidge proposed to Grace Goodhue, his future mother-in-law was not pleased. She tried to delay the wedding. She told Calvin that Grace needed at least another year to learn homemaking skills. She said that Grace didn’t even know how to bake bread. Calvin’s response: “We’ll buy bread!”

Calvin and Grace were married in the parlor of her home in Burlington, Vermont. The home is still there. I think of President Coolidge and his wife whenever I drive by.

During the presentation, I was most impressed by the close relationship Calvin had with his father throughout his lifetime. It was especially poignant that it was his father John who informed Calvin Coolidge – then Vice President - of President Harding’s sudden death and it was his father who administered the Presidential oath of office to his son who was visiting his boyhood home in Vermont at the time.

It was during his Presidency when Calvin’s sixteen- year- old son died of a staph infection. He had been playing on the tennis courts of the White House when he developed a blister on his foot. There were no antibiotics for treatment, and the infection entered the bloodstream. President Coolidge was devastated. From then on, any pleasure and enthusiasm he had for the office of President seemed to leave him. He probably blamed himself – that if he were not in the White House, his son would still be alive.

John Cooke will perform as Calvin Coolidge one more time at the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site in Plymouth, Vermont on July 4, 2015 - the President's birthday. President Coolidge was born on July 4, 1872.

This was another wonderful event of the Vermont Humanities Council. We have to wait until August to learn what new programs the season will bring.