{{Infobox_President 
| name=John Calvin Coolidge, Jr.
| nationality=Amerika
| image=Calvin Coolidge photo portrait head and shoulders.jpg
| order=Presiden Amerika Syarikat Ke-30
| term_start=2 Ogos 1923
| term_end=4 Mac 1929
| predecessor=Warren G. Harding
| successor=Herbert Hoover
| birth_date=4 Julai 1872
| birth_place=Plymouth, Vermont
| death_date=5 Januari 1933
| death_place=Northampton, Massachusetts
| spouse=Grace Goodhue Coolidge
| party=Republik
| vicepresident=''Tidak Ada'' (1923-1925)<br>Charles G. Dawes, (1925-1929)
| signature=Calvin Coolidge signature.gif
|}}

'''John Calvin Coolidge, Jr.''' adalah Presiden Amerika Syarikat ke-30, dengan masa jabatan 1923 - 1929. 

Ia menggantikan Presiden Warren G. Harding yang meninggal semasa masih dalam jawatan.

==Masa kecil==
John Calvin Coolidge Jr. lahir di Plymouth, Windsor County, Vermont pada 4 Julai 1872, tepat pada hari kemerdekaan Amerika Syarikat. 

Ia putera dari John Calvin Coolidge, Sr. dan Victoria Moor, seorang pemilik toko di sebuah kampung. Ayahnya juga berkedudukan sebagai penjaga keamanan kampungnya. 

==Awal kerjaya==
Setelah tamat sekolah tinggi dengan prestaasi cum-laude, Calvin Coolidge mulai berkecimpung dalam bidang hukum dan politik. Lambat laun dan secara teratur, ia maju dalam dunia politik dari anggota Dewan Kota sampai Gubemur negara bagian Massachusetts dari Partai Republik. Sewaktu duduk sebagai Gabernor Massachusetts; namanya menjadi terkenal di seluruh Amerika Syarikat kerana usahanya yang keras menentang pemogokan polisi Boston dan pembentukan Syarikat Buruh Polisi Kota itu.

==Semasa presiden==

250px|Calvin Coolidge|thumb|left

Calvin Coolidge menjadi Presiden pada 1923 setelah Presiden Harding meninggal dunia, ia menjabat Wakil Presiden di bawah Presiden Harding. 
Berita bahawa ia telah terpilih menjadi Presiden, diterimanya pada pukul tiga setengah pagi, pada 3 Ogos 1923, sewaktu ia berkunjung ke rumah ayahnya di Vermont. Di bawah sinar lampu minyak tanah, ayahnya menyaksikannya mengangkat sumpah Presiden, sambil ia meletakkan tangannya pada Kitab Suci orang tuanya.

Sebagai presiden, Calvin Coolidge memperlihatkan tekadnya untuk mempertahankan norma-norma moral dan ekonomi lama, di tengah-tengah kemakmuran yang dialami rakyat Amerika. Beliau menolak menggunakan kekuasaan ekonomi pemerintah Federal untuk membatasi kemakmuran ekonomi yang semakin bertambah, ataupun untuk memperbaiki keadaan pertanian dan beberapa industri yang merosot. Dalam amanatnya yang pertama kepada kongres, beliau menyeru agar Amerika Syarikat menjauhkan diri daripada persoalan-persoalan luar negeri, agar pajak dipotong, penghematan dijalankan, dan membatasi bantuan kepada pengusaha-pengusaha pertanian.

Presiden Coolidge segera menjadi popular. Pada 1924, dalam pemilihan presiden, ia mendapat 54 peratus lebih banyak daripada jumlah semua suara.

Ada satu pendapat yang mengatakan bahawa kekuatan politik yang dimiliki
Presiden terletak pada kemampuannya memilih saat yang tepat, baik untuk
berbuat sesuatu atau tidak sama sekali. Hal tersebut dianggap menyenangkan bagi para pengusaha yang tidak mau diganggu. Demikian juga bagi sebagian besar kalangan masyarakat yang menganggap bahawa pemerintahan di Amerika Syarikat terlalu birokratik.

Presiden Calvin Coolidge terkenal karena kejenakaannya dan sifatnya
yang pendiam, dan juga karena ia dengan keras menjalankan penghematan dalam pemerintahan.

{{Infobox_President | name=John Calvin Coolidge Jr.
| nationality=American
| image=Calvin Coolidge photo portrait head and shoulders.jpg
| order=30th President of the United States
| term_start=August 2 1923
| term_end=March 4 1929<!--Source for correct date is Sobel; see Talk -->
| vicepresident=''None'' (1923–1925)<br />Charles G. Dawes, (1925–1929)
| predecessor=Warren G. Harding
| successor=Herbert Hoover
| order2=29th Vice President of the United States
| term_start2=March 4 1921
| term_end2=August 2 1923
| president2=Warren G. Harding
| predecessor2=Thomas R. Marshall
| successor2=Charles G. Dawes
| order3=48th
| office3= Governor of Massachusetts
| term_start3=January 2 1919
| term_end3=January 6 1921
| lieutenant3=Channing H. Cox
| predecessor3=Samuel W. McCall
| successor3=Channing H. Cox
|office4= 53rd Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
|term_start4= January 6 1916
|term_end4= January 2 1919 
|governor4= Samuel W. McCall
|predecessor4= Grafton D. Cushing
|successor4= Channing H. Cox
| birth_date=
| birth_place=Plymouth, Vermont
| death_date=
| death_place=Northampton, Massachusetts
| religion=Congregationalist
| alma_mater=Amherst College
| spouse=Grace Goodhue Coolidge
| party=Republican
| signature=
|}}
'''John Calvin Coolidge, Jr.''' (Republican lawyer from Vice President in 1920 and succeeded to the Presidency upon the death of small-government conservative.

In many ways Coolidge's style of governance was a throwback to the passive presidency of the nineteenth century.<ref>Sobel, 14</ref> He restored public confidence in the White House after the scandals of his predecessor's administration, and left office with considerable popularity.<ref>McCoy, 420–421; Greenberg, 49–53</ref> As his biographer later put it, "he embodied the spirit and hopes of the middle class, could interpret their longings and express their opinions. That he did represent the genius of the average is the most convincing proof of his strength."<ref>Fuess, 500</ref>

Many later criticized Coolidge as part of a general criticism of laissez-faire government.<ref>McCoy, 418; Greenberg, 146–150; Ferrell, 66–72</ref> His reputation underwent a renaissance during the Reagan administration,<ref>Sobel, 12–13; Greenberg, 2–3</ref> but the ultimate assessment of his presidency is still divided between those who approve of his reduction of the size of government and those who believe the federal government should be more involved in regulating the economy.<ref>Greenberg, 1–7</ref>

==Family and early life==
===Birth and family history===
John Calvin Coolidge Jr. was born in Plymouth, Windsor County, the fourth of July. He was the elder of two children of John Calvin Sr. and Victoria Coolidge. The Coolidge family had deep roots in Watertown, selectmen of the town of Plymouth Notch.<ref>Fuess, 7</ref> Most of Coolidge's ancestors were farmers. The more well-known Coolidges, such as architect Arthur Brown, a United States Senator, and Olympia Brown, a women's suffragist.

right|200px|thumb|Coolidge as an Amherst undergraduate

Coolidge's grandfather Calvin Coolidge held some local government offices in Plymouth and was best remembered as a man with "a fondness for practical jokes".<ref>Fuess, 14</ref> Sarah Brewer was also of New England. It is through this ancestor that Coolidge claimed to be descended in part from American Indians.<ref name=mccoy5>McCoy, 5</ref> Coolidge's father was a farmer, but spent some time as a schoolteacher and justice of the peace.<ref>Fuess, 16</ref> His mother, Victoria Josephine Moor Coolidge, was the daughter of another Plymouth Notch farmer.<ref>Fuess, 17</ref> Coolidge's mother was chronically ill, possibly suffering from tuberculosis, and died young in 1884, but Coolidge's father lived to see him become President.<ref>McCoy, 5; White, 11</ref>

==Early career and marriage==
===Western Massachusetts lawyer===

After graduating from Amherst, at his father's urging, Coolidge moved to Hampshire County. In 1897, Coolidge was admitted to the bar. With his savings and a small inheritance from his grandfather, Coolidge was able to open his own law office in Northampton in 1898, where he practiced transactional law, believing that he served his clients best by staying out of court. As his reputation as a hard-working and diligent attorney grew, local banks and other businesses began to retain his services.<ref>Fuess, 74–81; McCoy 22–26</ref>

===Marriage and family===
In 1905 Coolidge met and married a fellow Vermonter, Grace Anna Goodhue, a local schoolteacher working at the Clarke School for the Deaf. They were opposites in personality: she was talkative and fun-loving, while Coolidge was quiet and serious.<ref>Greenberg, 58–59</ref> Not long after their marriage, Coolidge handed her a bag with fifty-two pairs of socks in it, all of them full of holes. Grace's reply was "Did you marry me to darn your socks?" Without cracking a smile and with his usual seriousness, Calvin answered, "No, but I find it mighty handy."<ref>Telleen, Maurice. [http://web.archive.org/web/20060518031030/http://www.drafthorsejournal.com/daysbeforeyesterday/autumn01/75yearsago/75yearsago.htm The Days Before Yesterday: 75 years ago.] ''The Draft Horse Journal'', Autumn, 2001. Retrieved from Internet Archive on 2007-05-18.</ref> They had two sons; John Coolidge, born in 1906, and Calvin Coolidge, Jr., born in 1908.<ref>White, 65–66</ref> The marriage was, by most accounts, a happy one.<ref>Fuess, 89–92; Sobel, 57–58. Some biographers disagree with this rosy portrait, see Ferrell, 21–23</ref> As Coolidge wrote in his ''Autobiography'', "We thought we were made for each other. For almost a quarter of a century she has borne with my infirmities, and I have rejoiced in her graces."<ref>''Autobiography'', 93</ref>

==Local political office==
===City offices===
The Republican Party was dominant in New England in Coolidge's time, and he followed Hammond's and Field's example by becoming active in local politics.<ref>Sobel, 49–51</ref> Coolidge campaigned locally for Republican presidential candidate City Solicitor, a position elected by the City Council. He was elected for a one-year term in 1900, and reelected in 1901.<ref name=fuess84>Fuess, 84–85</ref> This position gave Coolidge more experience as a lawyer, and paid a salary of $600.<ref name=fuess84/> In 1902, the city council selected a Democrat for city solicitor, and Coolidge returned to an exclusively private practice.<ref name=mccoy29>McCoy, 29</ref> Soon thereafter, however, the clerk of courts for the county died, and Coolidge was chosen to replace him. The position paid well, but barred him from practicing law, so he only remained at the job for one year.<ref name=mccoy29/> The next year, 1904, Coolidge met with his only defeat before the voters, losing an election to the Northampton school board. When told that some of his neighbors voted against him because he had no children in the schools he would govern, Coolidge replied "Might give me time!"<ref name=mccoy29/>

===State legislator and mayor===
right|thumb|Calvin and Grace Coolidge, about 1918.

In 1906 the local Republican committee nominated Coolidge for election to the state House of Representatives. He won a close victory over the incumbent Democrat, and reported to Boston for the 1907 session of the Progressive Republican, voting in favor of such measures as direct election of Senators.<ref>Sobel, 62; Fuess, 99</ref> Throughout his time in Boston, Coolidge found himself allied primarily with the western Winthrop Murray Crane faction of the state Republican Party, as against the Henry Cabot Lodge-dominated eastern faction.<ref>Sobel, 63–66</ref> In 1907, he was elected to a second term. In the 1908 session, Coolidge was more outspoken, but was still not one of the leaders in the legislature.<ref>Sobel, 68–69</ref>

Instead of vying for another term in the state house, Coolidge returned home to his growing family and ran for mayor of Northampton when the incumbent Democrat retired. He was well-liked in the town, and defeated his challenger by a vote of 1,597 to 1,409.<ref>Sobel, 72</ref> During his first term (1910 to 1911), he increased teachers' salaries and retired some of the city's debt while still managing to effect a slight tax decrease.<ref>Fuess, 106–107; Sobel, 74</ref> He was renominated in 1911, and defeated the same opponent by a slightly larger margin.<ref>Fuess, 108</ref>

thumb|left|150px|Calvin Coolidge as a young legislator

In 1911 the State Senator for the Hampshire County area retired and encouraged Coolidge to run for his seat for the 1912 session. He defeated his Democratic opponent by a large margin.<ref>Sobel, 76</ref> At the start of that term, Coolidge was selected to be chairman of a committee to arbitrate the "party split between the progressive wing, which favored Progressive Party declined to run a candidate in his state senate district, Coolidge won reelection against his Democratic opponent by an increased margin.<ref name=progressive/>

The 1913 session was less eventful, and Coolidge's time was mostly spent on the railroad committee, of which he was the chairman.<ref>Fuess, 111–113</ref> Coolidge intended to retire after the 1913 session, as two terms were the norm, but when the President of the State Senate, Levi H. Greenwood, considered running for Lieutenant Governor, Coolidge decided to run again for the Senate in the hopes of being elected as its presiding officer.<ref>Fuess, 114–115</ref> Although Greenwood later decided to run for reelection to the Senate, he was defeated and Coolidge was elected, with Crane's help, as the President of a closely divided Senate.<ref>Sobel, 80–82</ref> After his election in January 1914, Coolidge delivered a speech entitled ''Have Faith in Massachusetts'', which was later republished as a book.<ref name=havefaith>Have Faith in Massachusetts: A Collection of Speeches And Messages by Calvin Coolidge, 1919, ISBN 1417926082.</ref> His speech, later much-quoted, summarized Coolidge's philosophy of government.
{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: left;" |"Do the day's work. If it be to protect the rights of the weak, whoever objects, do it. If it is to help a powerful corporation, do that. Expect to be called a stand-patter, but do not be a stand-patter. Expect to be called a demagogue, but do not be a demagogue. Do not hesitate to be called as revolutionary as science. Do not hesitate to be as reactionary as the multiplication table. Do not expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong. Do not hurry to legislate. Give administration a chance to catch up with legislation."
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | '''''Have Faith in Massachusetts''' as delivered by Calvin Coolidge to the Massachusetts State Senate, 1914.''<ref>''Have Faith in Massachusetts,'' 7–8</ref>
|}

Coolidge's speech was well-received and he attracted some admirers on its account.<ref>Sobel, 90–92</ref> Towards the end of the term, many of them were proposing his name for nomination to lieutenant governor. After winning reelection to the Senate by an increased margin in the 1914 elections, Coolidge was reelected unanimously to be President of the Senate.<ref>Sobel, 90; Fuess, 124</ref> As the 1915 session drew to a close, Coolidge's supporters, led by fellow Amherst alumnus Frank Stearns, encouraged him once again to run for lieutenant governor. This time, he accepted their advice.<ref>Sobel, 92–98; Fuess, 133–136</ref>

===Lieutenant Governor===

Coolidge entered the balanced the Republican ticket by adding a western presence to McCall's eastern base of support.<ref>Fuess, 139–142</ref> McCall and Coolidge won the 1915 election, with Coolidge defeating his opponent by more than 50,000 votes.<ref>Fuess, 145</ref>

Coolidge's duties as lieutenant governor were few; in Massachusetts, the lieutenant governor does not preside over the state Senate, although Coolidge did become an ''ex officio'' member of the governor's cabinet.<ref>Fuess, 150; Sobel, 104</ref> As a full-time elected official, Coolidge no longer practiced law after 1916, though his family continued to live in Northampton.<ref>Fuess, 151–152</ref> McCall and Coolidge were both reelected in 1916 and again in 1917 (both offices were one-year terms in those days). When McCall decided that he would not stand for a fourth term, Coolidge announced his own intention to run for governor.<ref>Sobel, 107–110</ref>

==Governor of Massachusetts==
===1918 election===

Coolidge was unopposed for the Republican nomination for Governor of Massachusetts in 1918. He and his running mate, Irish- and German-Americans.<ref>Sobel, 112</ref> Coolidge was elected by a margin of 16,773 votes over his opponent, Richard H. Long, in the smallest margin of victory of any of his state-wide campaigns.<ref>Sobel, 115; McCall, 76</ref>

===Boston Police Strike===

In 1919 in response to rumors that policemen of the Andrew Peters, convinced Curtis to delay his action for a few days, but Curtis ultimately suspended the union leaders after a brief delay, on September 8.<ref>Russell, 111–113; Sobel, 133–136</ref>
{| class="toccolours" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: left;" |"Your assertion that the Commissioner was wrong cannot justify the wrong of leaving the city unguarded. That furnished the opportunity; the criminal element furnished the action. '''There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, any time.''' &nbsp;... I am equally determined to defend the sovereignty of Massachusetts and to maintain the authority and jurisdiction over her public officers where it has been placed by the Constitution and laws of her people."
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | '''''Telegram from Governor Calvin Coolidge to Samuel Gompers''' September 15 1919.''<ref>Fuess, 226</ref>
|}
The following day about three-quarters of the policemen in Boston went on strike.<ref>The exact total was 1,117 out of 1,544. Russell, 113</ref> Coolidge had observed the situation throughout the conflict, but had not yet intervened. That night and the next, there was sporadic violence and rioting in the lawless city.<ref>Russell, 131–170</ref> Peters, concerned about sympathy strikes, had called up some units of the Massachusetts National Guard stationed in the Boston area and relieved Curtis of duty.<ref>Russell, 120</ref> Coolidge, furious that the mayor had called out ''state'' guard units, finally acted.<ref>Sobel, 141</ref> He called up more units of the National Guard, restored Curtis to office, and took personal control of the police force.<ref>Sobel, 142</ref> Curtis proclaimed that none of the strikers would be allowed back to their former jobs, and Coolidge issued calls for a new police force to be recruited.<ref>Russell, 182–183</ref>

thumb|right|125px|Samuel Gompers.

That night Coolidge received a telegram from AFL leader Russia, Hungary, and Germany. While Coolidge had lost some friends among organized labor, conservatives across the nation had seen a rising star.

===1919 election===

Coolidge and Cox were renominated for their respective offices in 1919. By this time Coolidge's supporters (especially Stearns) had publicized his actions in the Police Strike around the state and the nation and some of Coolidge's speeches were reissued as a book.<ref name=havefaith/> He was faced with the same opponent as in 1918, Richard Long, but this time Coolidge defeated him by 125,101 votes, many times more than his margin of victory from a year earlier.<ref>The tally was Coolidge 317,774, Long 192,673. Fuess, 238.</ref> His actions in the police strike, combined with the massive electoral victory, led to suggestions that Coolidge should run for President in 1920.<ref>Fuess, 239–243; McCoy, 102–113</ref>

===Legislation and vetoes as governor===
thumb|right|Governor Coolidge, laying the cornerstone at [[Suffolk Law School in Boston in August of 1920.]]
By the time Coolidge was inaugurated on children from fifty-four hours to forty-eight, saying "we must humanize the industry, or the system will break down."<ref>Sobel, 117; Fuess, 195</ref> He signed into law a budget that kept the tax rates the same, while trimming four million dollars from expenditures, thus allowing the state to retire some of its debt.<ref>Fuess, 186</ref>

Coolidge also wielded the 2.75% alcohol or less, in contravention of the Eighteenth Amendment. Although Coolidge himself was opposed to Prohibition, he felt constrained to veto the bill. "Opinions and instructions do not outmatch the Constitution," he said in his veto message, "Against it, they are void."<ref>Fuess, 187–188</ref>

==Vice Presidency==
===1920 election===

At the 1920 Republican Convention most of the delegates were selected by state party conventions, not primaries. As such, the field was divided among many local favorites.<ref>Sobel, 152–153</ref> Coolidge was one such candidate, and while he placed as high as sixth in the voting, the powerful party bosses never considered him a serious candidate. After ten ballots, the delegates settled on Senator Vice President instead.<ref name=fuess261/> The suggestion caught on quickly, and Coolidge found himself unexpectedly nominated.<ref>Fuess, 262–264</ref>

left|thumb|250px|President Harding and Vice President Coolidge and their wives.

The Democrats nominated another Ohioan, Reconstruction.<ref name=1920election/>

==="Silent Cal"===

The Vice Presidency did not carry many official duties, but Coolidge was invited by President Harding to attend cabinet meetings, making him the first Vice President to do so.<ref>Sobel, 210–211</ref> He gave speeches around the country, but none were especially noteworthy.<ref>Sobel, 219; McCoy, 136</ref>

As Vice President, Coolidge and his vivacious wife Grace were invited to quite a few parties, where the legend of "Silent Cal" was born. It was from this time most of the jokes and anecdotes at his expense originate. Although Coolidge was known to be a skilled and effective public speaker, in private he was a man of few words and was therefore commonly referred to as "Silent Cal." A possibly apocryphal story has it that Dorothy Parker, seated next to him at a dinner, said to him, "Mr. Coolidge, I've made a bet against a fellow who said it was impossible to get more than two words out of you." His famous reply: "You lose."<ref>Hannaford, 169</ref> It was also Parker who, upon learning that Coolidge had died, reportedly remarked, "How can they tell?"<ref>Greenberg, 9</ref> Coolidge often seemed uncomfortable among fashionable Washington society; when asked why he continued to attend so many of their dinner parties, he replied "Got to eat somewhere."<ref>Sobel, 217</ref>

As President, Coolidge's reputation as a quiet man continued. "The words of a President have an enormous weight," he would later write, "and ought not to be used indiscriminately."<ref>Sobel, 243</ref> Coolidge was aware of his stiff reputation; indeed, he cultivated it. "I think the American people want a solemn ass as a President," he once told Ethel Barrymore, "and I think I will go along with them."<ref>Greenberg, 60</ref>

==Presidency 1923–1929==
thumb|left|150px|Coolidge's father, John Calvin Coolidge, Sr.
===Succession to the Presidency===
On family home, which did not have electricity or a telephone, in Vermont when he received word by messenger of Harding's death.<ref name=fuess308>Fuess, 308–309</ref> Coolidge dressed, said a prayer, and came downstairs to greet the reporters who had assembled.<ref name=fuess308/> His father, a oath of office in the family's parlor by the light of a kerosene lamp at 2:47 a.m. on Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, as there was some confusion over whether a state notary public had the authority to administer the presidential oath.<ref>Fuess, 310–315</ref>

===Finishing Harding's term===
thumb|Coolidge signing the Immigration Act and some appropriation bills. General [[John J. Pershing looks on.]]
The nation did not know what to make of its new President; Coolidge had not stood out in the Harding administration and many had expected him to be replaced on the ballot in 1924.<ref>Sobel, 226–228; Fuess, 303–305; Ferrell, 43–51</ref> He chose C. Bascom Slemp, a Virginia Congressman and experienced federal politician, as his secretary (a position equivalent to the modern White House Chief of Staff).<ref name=fuess320>Fuess, 320–322</ref> Although many of Harding's cabinet appointees were scandal-tarred, Coolidge announced that he would not demand any of their resignations, believing that since the people had elected Harding, he should carry on Harding's presidency, at least until the next election.<ref name=fuess320/>

He addressed Congress when it reconvened on immigration restriction and the need for the government to arbitrate the coal strikes then ongoing in Bonus Bill was passed over his veto.<ref>Fuess, 341</ref> Coolidge signed the Immigration Act later that year, though he appended a Japanese immigrants.<ref>Fuess, 342; Sobel, 269</ref> Just before the Republican Convention began, Coolidge signed into law the Revenue Act of 1924, which decreased personal income tax rates while increasing the estate tax, and creating a gift tax to reinforce the transfer tax system.<ref>Sobel, 278–279</ref>

===1924 election===

thumb|400px|left|Electoral votes by state, 1924.