Description:

Calvin Coolidge
[Washington, D.C.], November 12, 1924
4 Years After Women's Suffrage! Calvin Coolidge 1924 TLS On W.H. Stationery, "good work of the women in organizing and helping to bring out the vote"
TLS

A 1p typed letter signed by 30th U.S. President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) as "Calvin Coolidge" at center. The large presidential signature measures approximately 3.75" x 1.75" alone. November 12, 1924. [Washington, D.C.] On watermarked bifold stationery with embossed "The White House / Washington" letterhead on the first page. Expected wear including flattened transmittal folds. The inner pages and outer leaf are blank. Isolated mounted traces on the outer leaf. Else near fine. 6.875" x 8.875." Accompanied by its original matching "The White House" transmittal envelope, with cancelled stamp and postmark, neatly letter-opened at top, 7.25" x 4.75."

One week after the 1924 presidential election which kept him in the White House, President Calvin Coolidge sent this thank-you note to a Hungarian-born dentist from Chicago, Illinois named Dr. Louis Ottofy.

In part:

"Thank you for your note of felicitations and good wishes in connection with the outcome of the election. You are indeed right in what you say about the good work of the women in organizing and helping to bring out the vote. It undoubtedly contributed greatly to our success…"

Calvin Coolidge was uniquely positioned to make such an assertion. The 19th amendment granting women the right to vote had been ratified and certified in August 1920, just four months before the 1920 presidential election in which Coolidge was the Republican vice presidential running mate. The 1920 presidential election was thus women's first foray into casting national election ballots. Although women's turnout was lower than men's in this first open presidential election, women's participation increased with subsequent elections. Commonly held assumptions about female voting patterns - that women would all vote in a certain way, either persuaded by their husbands, or in a bloc, and that their concern for "women's issues" made them lean towards the Progressive Party - turned out to be much more complicated. In fact, in their outstanding series of studies of female voting trends in American elections in the 1920s and 1930s, political scientists J. Kevin Corder and Christina Wolbrecht found that Republican-voting women in the 1924 presidential election actually tipped the scales in the Midwest. Women voters voted for a variety of political parties, including for Coolidge's Republican party.

Republican incumbent Calvin Coolidge and his running mate Charles Dawes received 382 Electoral College votes and 54% of the popular votes in the 1924 presidential election, held on November 4, 1924. Coolidge thus easily defeated his two challengers: Democratic candidate and former ambassador John W. Davis; and Progressive candidate and U.S. Senator from Wisconsin Robert M. La Follette. In Illinois, where Dr. Ottofy lived, the Republican Party secured 29 Electoral College votes - the third largest bloc after New York and Pennsylvania.

Dr. Louis Ottofy (1860-1939) was one of the world's leading dental practitioners, surgeons, and educators of the early 20th C. He was one of the earliest proponents of oral hygiene, advocacy, and legislation in the United States, the Philippines, and Japan, holding professorships and directorships of various dental schools and organizations.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 6.875" x 8.875"
  • Medium: TLS

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