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Calvin Coolidge
Coolidge
Historical Figure
Nationality: United States
Year of Birth: 1872
Year of Death: 1933
Cause of Death: Heart attack
Religion: Congregationalism
Occupation: Lawyer, Politician, Author of Non-Fiction
Spouse: Grace Goodhue
Children: John, Calvin Jr.
Political Party: Republican Party
Political Office(s): Governor of Massachusetts,
Vice President of the United States,
President of the United States
Fictional Appearances:
State of Jefferson
POD: Pre-history;
Relevant POD: 1919
Appearance(s): "Visitor from the East";
"Typecasting"
Type of Appearance: Posthumous references
Political Office(s): Vice President of the United States,
President of the United States
Southern Victory
POD: September 10, 1862
Appearance(s): The Center Cannot Hold
Date of Death: 1933
Cause of Death: Heart attack
Military Branch: United States Army (Great War)
Political Party: Democratic Party
Political Office(s): Governor of Massachusetts,
Elected President of the United States but did not hold the office

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. (July 4, 1872 – January 5, 1933) was the 30th President of the United States (1923–1929). He was elected as the 29th Vice President in 1920 and succeeded to the Presidency upon the death of Warren G. Harding on August 2, 1923.

He was elected in his own right to a full term in 1924 against Democratic candidate John W. Davis and Progressive candidate Robert M. La Follette. He gained a reputation as a small-government conservative.

Before his presidency, Coolidge was an attorney. He served as governor of Massachusetts from 1916-1919, a governorship most notable for its response to the Boston Police Strike. Coolidge's public statement that "There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, any time" made him a star among the country's conservatives.

He is the only President of the United States to have been born on the Fourth of July.

Calivin Coolidge in State of Jefferson

Calvin Coolidge became President of the United States only about four years after the State of Jefferson was established. Jefferson's second governor, Charlie "Bigfoot" Lewis took advantage of the economic prosperity the country experienced during the Coolidge Administration, building the Governor's Mansion in Yreka to suit sasquatches rather than little people.[1]

Calvin Coolidge in Southern Victory

Calvin Coolidge was a Democratic politician in the early 20th century. He served as governor of Massachusetts in the 1910s and 1920s, and was elected to the presidency in 1932. He holds the distinction of being the only man elected President of the United States but never inaugurated.

A veteran of the Great War, Coolidge rose to prominence during his tenure as governor of Massachusetts during the 1920s.[2] In 1928, he was the Democratic Party's nominee for president. However, as United States had been immensely prosperous under the administration of Socialist President Upton Sinclair, Coolidge was readily portrayed as another regressive Democrat. Despite Coolidge's promises to keep the Confederate States in check, his lack of accomplishment outside of Massachusetts worked against him.[3] Although he carried all six of the New England states (including his home and birth states of Massachusetts and Vermont), Kansas, Montana, Kentucky, Idaho, Nevada, and Houston, he was defeated narrowly by the incumbent Vice President, Socialist Hosea Blackford.[4] When Coolidge called Blackford to concede, however, he expressed his belief that the bull market would not last, and that Blackford would face a difficult presidency when it finally crashed.[5]

History proved Coolidge correct. The stock market crash came three months into Blackford's term.[6] Blackford struggled unsuccessfully with the resulting depression, and the American people's faith in him and his party quickly eroded.[7] Further sinking Blackford's presidency was the Pacific War with Japan, which broke out in 1932, just before elections.[8]

Against this backdrop, the Democrats nominated Coolidge as their candidate for a second time in 1932.[9] Coolidge's platform of discontinuing Blackford's costly and ineffective economic programs and a vigorous prosecution of the Pacific War handily won him and his running mate Herbert Hoover the election.[10] Unfortunately, Coolidge did not live to take office. President-elect Coolidge was in Washington, DC when he suffered a heart attack while shaving and died on January 5, 1933 at the age of 60, just under a month before his inauguration on February 1. Coolidge's term was served by Hoover.[11]

See Also

  • Upton Sinclair, historical author and politician who serves as the 29th President of the United States in Southern Victory. Sinclair serves from 1921 to 1929.

References

  1. Thirty Days Later: Steaming Forward: 30 Adventures in Time, loc. 376.
  2. The Center Cannot Hold, pg. 209-210, HC.
  3. Ibid., pgs. 212-214.
  4. Ibid., pgs. 216-218.
  5. Ibid., pg. 218.
  6. Ibid., pg. 235.
  7. Ibid., see, e.g., pgs. 290-291.
  8. Ibid., pgs. 359-360.
  9. Ibid., pg. 356.
  10. Ibid., pg. 382.
  11. Ibid., pg. 394.
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