Description:

Coolidge Calvin

Vice President Calvin Coolidge TLS 41 days before assuming presidency

 

1p TLS on "The Vice-President's Chamber. Washington." letterhead signed by Vice President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) as "Calvin Coolidge" in blue fountain pen at bottom right. Written in Northampton, Massachusetts on June 22, 1923. The watermarked cream paper was typed in purple ink. In near fine condition, with expected paper folds and light toning, measuring 7" x 9".

 

H.D. Hemenway of Holden, Massachusetts had inquired if Vice President Coolidge could speak at an upcoming engagement. Coolidge framed a humble and courteous reply:

 

"It is with a good deal of regret that I have to report that I am unable to accept. I am constantly in receipt of an unending number of requests of this kind. In only a few cases, oftentimes those of less importance than your occasion, can I accept.

 

I am grateful for the compliment which I know your invitation implies and can only regret that I am not able to undertake more of this kind of work than I am now doing. I can assure you that I am responding to the limit of my ability…"

 

Vice President Coolidge was soon going to get a lot busier! A little over a month later, on August 3, 1923, Coolidge assumed the presidency after 29th U.S. President Warren G. Harding (1865-1923) died unexpectedly in San Francisco.

 

Coolidge had cultivated a political persona of quiet and understated reliability during his vice presidential term. His terseness may have been natural, or calculated to inspire confidence in the American public. “Silent Cal," as he became known, was actually a very proficient public speaker. After finishing Harding's term, Coolidge was reelected and served until 1929.

Coolidge's correspondent H.D. Hemenway appears to have been a professional public speaker himself. Hemenway placed a half-page black and white advertisement in a New Jersey periodical in 1918. The self-proclaimed "Author, Lecturer and Demonstrator" touted his expertise in food gardens and community rehabilitation.

 

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