Coolidge, (John) Calvin 1872-1933
30th President of the USA

Born in Plymouth, Vermont, the son of a farmer and storekeeper, he became a lawyer and then Governor of Massachusetts (1919-20), where he achieved renown in decisively using the state militia to break the Boston police strike in 1919. Vice-President from 1921 to 1923, he succeeded as President on Warren G Harding's death (1923). A strong supporter of US business interests, he was triumphantly re-elected by the Republicans in 1924. Known for his reserved demeanour and cautious temperament, he adopted a laissez-faire attituted towards business, cutting taxes, reducing regulations and blocking the McNary-Haugen scheme to raise farm income by sending surplus crops abroad. He was not greatly interested in foreign policy, but his administration did see the signing of the Dawes Plan to reduce Germany reparations and the Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war. Although highly popular whilst in office, he declined to run for re-election in 1928. His policies were later thought to have contributed to the stock market crash, but by leaving his post when he did he escaped the public acrimony that was visited on his successor, Herbert Hoover.

Bibliography: C M Fuess, Calvin Coolidge, The Man From Vermont (1940)