Paw Prints Anecdotes: [John] Calvin Coolidge

Paw Prints Anecdotes

Short, humorous stories about people
in politics, history, and the arts.

[John] Calvin Coolidge
(1872–1933)

Calvin Coolidge Anecdote...

While Coolidge was governor of Massachusetts, two of the state senators had an argument, which ended in one telling the other that he could "go to hell." The insulted politican went to see Coolidge to ask him to do something about it. Coolidge said calmly, "I have looked up the law, senator, and you don't have to go."

Biographical Note...

0th president of the United States (1923–29). A Republican, he led a conservative administration that promoted American business interests but failed to control the financial speculation that ended in the 1929 Wall Street crash. He was nicknamed "Silent Cal" for his extreme taciturnity, of which many stories, some no doubt apocryphal, are told. Alice Roosevelt Longworth once commented: "He looks as if he'd been weaned on a pickle." Coolidge was not without a sense of humor on this point, remarking, "I think the American people want a solemn ass as a president. And I think I'll go along with them."

More Information...

READ a short biography of Calvin Coolidge.

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