On August 2, 1923, President Harding died unexpectedly from a heart attack in San Francisco while on a speaking tour of the western United States. Vice President Coolidge was in Vermont visiting
his family home, which had neither electricity nor a telephone, when he received word by messenger of Harding's death. Coolidge dressed, said a prayer, and came downstairs to greet the reporters who had assembled. His father, a
notary public and
justice of the peace, administered the
oath of office in the family's parlor by the light of a
kerosene lamp at 2:47 a.m. on August 3, 1923, whereupon the new President of the United States returned to bed. Coolidge returned to Washington the next day, and was sworn in again by Justice
Adolph A. Hoehling Jr. of the
Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, to forestall any questions about the authority of a state official to administer a federal oath. This second oath-taking remained a secret until it was revealed by
Harry M. Daugherty in 1932, and confirmed by Hoehling. When Hoehling confirmed Daugherty's story, he indicated that Daugherty, then serving as
United States Attorney General, asked him to administer the oath without fanfare at the
Willard Hotel. According to Hoehling, he did not question Daugherty's reason for requesting a second oath-taking but assumed it was to resolve any doubt about whether the first swearing-in was valid. The nation initially did not know what to make of Coolidge, who had maintained a low profile in the Harding administration. Many had even expected him to be replaced on the ballot in 1924. Coolidge believed that those of Harding's men under suspicion were entitled to every presumption of innocence, taking a methodical approach to the scandals, principally the
Teapot Dome scandal, while others clamored for rapid punishment of those they presumed guilty. Coolidge thought the Senate investigations of the scandals would suffice. The resulting resignations of those involved affirmed this. He personally intervened in demanding the resignation of Attorney General
Harry M. Daugherty after Daugherty refused to cooperate with the investigations. He then set about to confirm that no loose ends remained in the administration, arranging for a full briefing on the wrongdoing.
Harry A. Slattery reviewed the facts with him,
Harlan F. Stone analyzed the legal aspects for him, and Senator
William E. Borah assessed and presented the political factors. On December 6, 1923, Coolidge addressed Congress when it reconvened, giving a speech that supported many of Harding's policies, including Harding's formal budgeting process,
the enforcement of immigration restrictions, and the arbitration of coal strikes ongoing in
Pennsylvania. The address to Congress was the first presidential speech to be broadcast over the radio. The
Washington Naval Treaty was proclaimed one month into Coolidge's term, and was generally well received nationally. In May 1924, Congress passed the World War I veterans'
World War Adjusted Compensation Act ("Bonus Bill"), overriding Coolidge's veto. Later that year, Coolidge signed the
Immigration Act, which was aimed at restricting southern and eastern European immigration, but appended a
signing statement expressing his unhappiness with the bill's specific exclusion of
Japanese immigrants. Just before the Republican Convention began, Coolidge signed into law the
Revenue Act of 1924, which reduced the top marginal tax rate from 58% to 46%, cut personal
income tax rates across the board, increased the
estate tax, and bolstered it with a new
gift tax. On June 2, 1924, Coolidge signed the act granting citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States. By that time, two-thirds of them were already citizens, having gained it through marriage, military service (veterans of World War I were granted citizenship in 1919), or land allotments. On August 4, 1927, Coolidge was adopted into the
Sioux tribe under the name (). He was named White Chief and Protector of the Indians by
Henry Standing Bear.
1924 election The
Republican Convention was held from June 10 to 12, 1924, in Cleveland, Ohio. Coolidge was nominated on the first ballot. The convention nominated
Frank Lowden of
Illinois for vice president on the second ballot, but he declined. Former Brigadier General
Charles G. Dawes was nominated on the third ballot and accepted. The Democrats
held their convention the next month in New York City. The convention soon deadlocked, and after 103 ballots, the delegates agreed upon a compromise candidate,
John W. Davis, with
Charles W. Bryan nominated for vice president. The Democrats' hopes were buoyed when
Robert M. La Follette, a Republican senator from
Wisconsin, split from the GOP to form a new
Progressive Party. Many believed that the split in the Republican Party, like the one in 1912, would allow a Democrat to win the presidency. After the conventions and the death of his younger son Calvin, Coolidge became withdrawn. He later said that "when he [the son] died, the power and glory of the Presidency went with him." Even as he mourned, Coolidge ran his standard campaign, not mentioning his opponents by name or maligning them, and delivering speeches on his theory of government, including several that were broadcast over the radio. It was the most subdued campaign since
1896, partly because of Coolidge's grief, but also because of his naturally non-confrontational style. The other candidates campaigned in a more modern fashion, but despite the split in the Republican party, the results were similar to those of 1920. Coolidge won every state outside the South except Wisconsin, La Follette's home state. He won the election with 382 electoral votes and the popular vote by 2.5 million votes.
Industry and trade During Coolidge's presidency, the United States experienced a period of rapid economic growth known as the "
Roaring Twenties". He left the administration's industrial policy in the hands of his activist Secretary of Commerce,
Herbert Hoover, who energetically used government auspices to promote business efficiency and develop airlines and radio. Coolidge disdained regulation and appointed men to the
Federal Trade Commission and the
Interstate Commerce Commission, who did little to restrict the activities of businesses under their jurisdiction. The regulatory state under Coolidge was, as one biographer called it, "thin to the point of invisibility". Historian
Robert Sobel offers some context for Coolidge's
laissez-faire ideology, based on the prevailing understanding of
federalism during his presidency: "As Governor of Massachusetts, Coolidge supported wages and hours legislation, opposed child labor, imposed economic controls during World War I, favored safety measures in factories, and even worker representation on corporate boards. Did he support these measures while president? No, because in the 1920s, such matters were considered the responsibilities of state and local governments." Coolidge signed the
Radio Act of 1927, which established the
Federal Radio Commission and the
equal-time rule for
radio broadcasters and restricted radio
broadcasting licenses to
stations that demonstrated they served "the public interest, convenience, or necessity".
Taxation and government spending Coolidge adopted the taxation policies of his Secretary of the Treasury,
Andrew Mellon, who advocated "scientific taxation"—the notion that lowering taxes will increase, rather than decrease, government receipts. Congress agreed, and tax rates were reduced in Coolidge's term. In addition to federal tax cuts, Coolidge proposed reductions in federal expenditures and retiring the
federal debt. His ideas were shared by the Republicans in Congress, and in 1924, Congress passed the
Revenue Act of 1924, which reduced income tax rates and eliminated all income taxation for two million people. It reduced taxes again by passing the Revenue Acts of
1926 and
1928, while keeping spending down to reduce the overall federal debt. By 1927, only the wealthiest 2% of taxpayers paid federal income tax. Federal spending remained flat during Coolidge's administration, allowing one-fourth of the federal debt to be retired. State and local governments saw considerable growth, surpassing the federal budget in 1927. In 1929, after Coolidge's series of tax rate reductions had cut the tax rate to 24% on those making over $100,000, the federal government collected more than $1 billion in income taxes, of which 65% was from those making over $100,000. In 1921, when the tax rate on those making over $100,000 a year was 73%, the federal government collected a little over $700 million in income taxes, of which 30% was from those making over $100,000.
Opposition to farm subsidies Perhaps the most contentious issue of Coolidge's presidency was relief for farmers. Some in Congress proposed a bill designed to fight falling agricultural prices by allowing the federal government to purchase crops to sell abroad at lower prices. Agriculture Secretary
Henry C. Wallace and other administration officials favored the bill when it was introduced in 1924, but rising prices convinced many in Congress that the bill was unnecessary, and it was defeated just before the 1924 elections. In 1926, with farm prices falling once more, Senator
Charles L. McNary and Representative
Gilbert N. Haugen—both Republicans—proposed the
McNary–Haugen Farm Relief Bill. The bill proposed a federal farm board that would purchase surplus production in high-yield years, and hold it, when feasible, for later sale or sell it abroad. Coolidge opposed McNary-Haugen, saying that agriculture must stand "on an independent business basis" and that "government control cannot be divorced from political control". Instead of manipulating prices, he favored
Herbert Hoover's proposal to increase profitability by modernizing agriculture. Secretary Mellon wrote a letter denouncing McNary-Haugen as unsound and likely to cause inflation, and it was defeated. After McNary-Haugen's defeat, Coolidge supported a less radical measure, the Curtis-Crisp Act, which would have created a federal board to lend money to farm cooperatives in times of surplus. The bill did not pass. In February 1927, Congress took up McNary-Haugen again, this time narrowly passing it, and Coolidge vetoed it. In his veto message, he expressed the belief that the bill would do nothing to help farmers, benefiting only exporters and expanding the federal bureaucracy. Congress did not override the veto. In May 1928, Congress passed the bill again by an increased majority, and Coolidge vetoed it again. "Farmers never have made much money" he said. "I do not believe we can do much about it."
Flood control Coolidge has often been criticized for his actions during the
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the worst natural disaster to hit the Gulf Coast until
Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Although he eventually named Hoover to a commission in charge of flood relief, scholars argue that, overall, Coolidge showed lack of interest in federal flood control. Coolidge believed that visiting the region after the floods would accomplish nothing and be seen as political grandstanding. He also did not want to incur the federal spending that flood control would require. He believed that property owners should bear much of the cost. Congress wanted a bill that would place the federal government completely in charge of flood mitigation. When Congress passed a compromise measure in 1928, Coolidge declined to take credit for it and signed the bill in private on May 15.
Civil rights men with Coolidge after he signed the bill granting Native Americans U.S. citizenship According to one biographer, Coolidge was "devoid of racial prejudice", but he rarely took the lead on civil rights. Coolidge disliked the
Ku Klux Klan and no Klansman is known to have received an appointment from him. In the 1924 presidential election, his opponents, Robert La Follette and John Davis, and his running mate, Charles Dawes, often attacked the Klan, but Coolidge avoided the subject. Due to Coolidge's failure to condemn the Klan, some African-American leaders such as former assistant attorney general
William Henry Lewis endorsed Davis. Davis got little of the black vote outside Indiana, where Klan control of the Indiana Republican Party caused many blacks to vote Democratic. It is estimated that over 90% of non-Indiana blacks voted for Coolidge. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover was accused of running forced labor camps for African Americans during the
Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, which led more African Americans to vote Democratic when Hoover was the Republican presidential nominee in 1928 and 1932. During Coolidge's administration,
lynchings of African-Americans decreased and millions of people left the Ku Klux Klan. Coolidge spoke in favor of African Americans' civil rights, saying in his first
State of the Union address that their rights were "just as sacred as those of any other citizen" under the U.S. Constitution and that it was a "public and a private duty to protect those rights". Coolidge repeatedly called for laws to make
lynching a federal crime. It was already a state crime, though not always enforced. Congress refused to pass any such legislation. On June 2, 1924, Coolidge signed the
Indian Citizenship Act, which granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans living on reservations. Those off reservations had long been citizens. On June 6, 1924, Coolidge delivered a commencement address at historically black, non-segregated
Howard University, in which he thanked and commended African Americans for their rapid advances in education and contributions to U.S. society over the years, as well as their eagerness to render their services as soldiers in the World War, all while faced with discrimination and prejudice at home. In an October 1924 speech, Coolidge stressed tolerance of differences as an American value and thanked immigrants for their contributions to U.S. society, saying that they had "contributed much to making our country what it is". He said that although the diversity of peoples was a source of conflict and tension in Europe, it was a peculiarly "harmonious" benefit for the U.S. Coolidge added that the U.S. should assist and help immigrants and urged immigrants to reject "race hatreds" and "prejudices".
Foreign policy , February 1927. Left to right: Secretary of the Treasury,
Andrew Mellon; Secretary of State,
Frank B. Kellogg; President Calvin Coolidge; former president and Chief Justice
William Howard Taft, Secretary of the Smithsonian,
Charles D. Walcott among others. Coolidge was neither well versed nor very interested in world affairs. His focus was mainly on U.S. business, especially pertaining to trade, and "Maintaining the Status Quo". Although not an isolationist, he was reluctant to enter into European involvements. Coolidge believed strongly in a
non-interventionist foreign policy and supported
American exceptionalism. He considered the 1920 Republican victory a rejection of the
Wilsonian position that the U.S. should join the
League of Nations. Coolidge did not believe the League served U.S. interests. But he spoke in favor of joining the
Permanent Court of International Justice (World Court), provided that the nation would not be bound by advisory decisions. In 1926, the Senate approved joining the Court, with
reservations. The League of Nations accepted the reservations, but suggested some modifications of its own. The Senate failed to act, and so the U.S. did not join the World Court. In 1924, the Coolidge administration nominated
Charles Dawes to head the multinational committee that produced the
Dawes Plan. It set fixed annual amounts for Germany's
World War I reparations payments and authorized a large loan, mostly from U.S. banks, to help stabilize and stimulate the German economy. Coolidge attempted to pursue further curbs on naval strength after the successes of Harding's
Washington Naval Conference, by sponsoring the
Geneva Naval Conference in 1927, which failed owing to a French and Italian boycott and the failure of Great Britain and the U.S. to agree on cruiser tonnages. As a result, the conference was a failure and Congress eventually authorized for increased American naval spending in 1928. The
Kellogg–Briand Pact of 1928, named for U.S. Secretary of State
Frank B. Kellogg and French Foreign Minister
Aristide Briand, was a key peacekeeping initiative. Ratified in 1929, the treaty committed signatories—the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan—to "renounce war, as an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another". The treaty did not achieve its intended result—to outlaw war—but it did provide the founding principle for international law after
World War II. Coolidge continued the Harding administration's policy of withholding recognition of the
Soviet Union. Efforts were made to
normalize ties with post-
Revolution Mexico. Coolidge recognized Mexico's new governments under
Álvaro Obregón and
Plutarco Elías Calles, and continued U.S. support for the elected Mexican government against the
National League for the Defense of Religious Liberty during the
Cristero War, lifting the arms embargo on Mexico. He appointed
Dwight Morrow as
Ambassador to Mexico with the successful objective to avoid further conflict with Mexico.
Cabinet .Front row, left to right:
Harry Stewart New,
John W. Weeks,
Charles Evans Hughes, Coolidge,
Andrew Mellon,
Harlan F. Stone,
Curtis D. Wilbur.Back row, left to right:
James J. Davis,
Henry C. Wallace,
Herbert Hoover,
Hubert Work.|271x271px Although some of Harding's cabinet appointees were scandal-tarred, Coolidge initially retained all of them out of conviction that as successor to a deceased elected president, he was obligated to retain Harding's counselors and policies until the next election. He kept Harding's speechwriter
Judson T. Welliver. Stuart Crawford replaced Welliver in November 1925. Coolidge appointed
C. Bascom Slemp, a Virginia Congressman and experienced federal politician, to work jointly with Edward T. Clark, a Massachusetts Republican organizer whom he retained from his vice-presidential staff, as
Secretaries to the President, a position equivalent to the modern
White House Chief of Staff. Perhaps the most powerful person in Coolidge's cabinet was Secretary of the Treasury
Andrew Mellon, who controlled the administration's financial policies and was regarded by many, including House Minority Leader
John Nance Garner, as more powerful than Coolidge himself. Commerce Secretary
Herbert Hoover also held a prominent place in the cabinet, in part because Coolidge found value in Hoover's ability to win positive publicity with his pro-business proposals. Secretary of State
Charles Evans Hughes directed Coolidge's foreign policy until he resigned in 1925 following Coolidge's reelection. He was replaced by
Frank B. Kellogg, who had previously served as a senator and ambassador to Great Britain. Coolidge made two other appointments after his reelection:
William M. Jardine as Secretary of Agriculture and
John G. Sargent as Attorney General. Coolidge had no vice president during his first term.
Charles Dawes became vice president during Coolidge's second term, and Dawes and Coolidge clashed over farm policy and other issues.
Judicial appointments first as attorney general and then as a Supreme Court justice. In 1925, Coolidge appointed one justice to the
Supreme Court of the United States,
Harlan F. Stone. Stone was Coolidge's fellow Amherst alumnus, a Wall Street lawyer and conservative Republican. In 1924, Stone was serving as the dean of
Columbia Law School when Coolidge appointed him to be attorney general to restore the reputation tarnished by Harding's attorney general,
Harry M. Daugherty. It does not appear that Coolidge considered appointing anyone other than Stone, although Stone urged him to appoint
Benjamin N. Cardozo. Stone proved to be a firm believer in
judicial restraint and was regarded as one of the court's
three liberal justices who often voted to uphold New Deal legislation. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt later appointed Stone chief justice. Coolidge nominated 17 judges to the
United States Courts of Appeals and 61 to the
United States district courts. He appointed judges to various specialty courts, including
Genevieve R. Cline, who became the first woman named to the federal judiciary when Coolidge placed her on the
United States Customs Court in 1928. Coolidge signed the
Judiciary Act of 1925 into law, allowing the Supreme Court more discretion over its workload.
1928 election In the summer of 1927, Coolidge vacationed in the
Black Hills of
South Dakota. While on vacation, he issued a terse statement that he would not seek a second full term as president: "
I do not choose to run for President in 1928." After allowing the reporters to take that in, Coolidge elaborated. "If I take another term, I will be in the White House till 1933 … Ten years in Washington is longer than any other man has had it—too long!" In his memoirs, Coolidge explained his decision not to run: "The Presidential office takes a heavy toll of those who occupy it and those who are dear to them. While we should not refuse to spend and be spent in the service of our country, it is hazardous to attempt what we feel is beyond our strength to accomplish." After leaving office, he and Grace returned to Northampton, where he wrote his memoirs. The Republicans retained the White House in 1928 when
Herbert Hoover was elected in a landslide. Coolidge was reluctant to endorse Hoover. On one occasion he remarked, "for six years that man has given me unsolicited advice—all of it bad." But Coolidge had no desire to split the party by publicly opposing Hoover's nomination. ==Post-presidency (1929–1933)==