Having fought its own war for
sovereignty with New York and Massachusetts, the fiercely- independent Republic
of Vermont only reluctantly joined the Union to add a fourteenth star to the flag
in 1791. For the next 160 years the
tiny, rugged “Green Mountain State” would proudly lay claim to the distinction
of being populated by “more cows than people”. Yet this staunchly abolitionist
northern anchor of the “Underground Railroad” which made freedom possible for
unknown thousands of former slaves can also lay claim to producing two U.S.
Presidents, both of whom were born in small farming towns and both of whom
assumed the nation’s highest office upon the unexpected death of their
predecessors. Chester A. Arthur became our 20th President upon the
assassination of William McKinley in 1881 and John Calvin Coolidge, our 30th,
upon the sudden death of Warren G. Harding while the latter was touring in the
west in 1923.
Known to his family as Calvin almost
from the time of his birth on July 4th, 1872, the Coolidge who would
one day be President was no stranger to hard work and economic uncertainty.
Among New Englanders of the period, the term “hill farm” conveyed a picture of
hard-won rocky soils, remoteness from population centers, long hard winters and
constant struggle; all of which was well-known to the handful of hardy settlers
who had pioneered the cross-roads hamlet known first as Saltash, and finally as
Plymouth Notch in the central Vermont county of Windsor. Calvin lost his mother
to Tuberculosis when he was only 12, and his only sibling, Abigail to a
mysterious illness a year later. And that would not be all. Many years later,
while visiting the White House, a strapping, athletic and promising 18-year-old
son named Calvin, Jr. would die from sepsis four days after suffering a toe
blister while playing a game of tennis.
Highly motivated to avoid the
crippling debt he had seen bring about the ruination of many neighboring rural
families, young Calvin, like his father grew up husbanding resources,
practicing great frugality and carefully honoring obligations. Determined to
get an education, he refused to be diverted by distance or difficulty, actually
graduating with honors from Amherst College. Unable to afford law school, he
“read for the law” (as had Lincoln), working for a prominent Massachusetts law
firm. Again like his father, he sought and won elective office on local, city,
and county levels within the Massachusetts Republican Party, then serving in
both the State House and Senate of his adopted state. With a sterling record of
accomplishment, and the respect of members of both parties, he became the
Republican Governor of one of the most “Democratic” states in the country
before moving on to the U.S. Senate. He gained nationwide prominence by
supporting the Boston Police Commissioner in facing off the powerful police
union, in the end initiating legislation to protect the public from such
actions.
He was a strong vice president to
Warren Harding in his commitment to achieving “normalcy” for a nation staggered
by the effects of World War I and became wedded to the goal of erasing a
burdensome national debt. As President, he not only remained true to that
promise, but presided over a budget surplus in every year of his presidency
while bringing a renewed emphasis to the importance of asserting the
sovereignty of individual states in planning and funding those areas where he
felt the Federal government should “stay out”. He was a very “modern” president,
encouraging highway and aviation advancement, in the process hosting Charles
Lindbergh in the White House. Giving a lie to the sobriquet “Silent Cal”, he
used radio in speaking directly to the American people on important issues, and
never held back in telling Congress exactly how he felt on matters of
government. He did not believe any one group of citizens should benefit by
taxing any other segment of society, and even paid his own way when traveling
or feeding his white house family.
The living room of the Coolidge family home and
the bible with which his father, Colonel John Coolidge, a Notary Public,
administered the oath of office of President of the United States to his son Calvin
in the early morning hours of August 3rd, 1923.
Over the years, the author has been a
regular visitor to Plymouth Notch, and an aficionado of the aged “Hunter”
cheddar cheese still made from the same “culture” used by the Coolidge family. Al Cooper photos
Our freedom-loving and tax-cutting
30th President is buried on a high rise of ground on the farm his
family worked since the American Revolution. There is no expensive
“Presidential Library” there at Plymouth Notch, Vermont; only a humble State
Historic Park operated by the proud State of Vermont.
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