Coolidge served as themayor ofNorthampton, Massachusetts. He later served as thegovernor of Massachusetts. Asgovernor, he became famous because of his response during theBoston Police Strike. Coolidge fired the police who went on strike and gave the jobs to unemployedWorld War I veterans. He gave to the veterans the same bonuses that the striking policemen were asking for.
In 1920, he was nominatedvice president under Warren G. Harding. The Harding-Coolidge team won easily. Harding died in 1923, and Coolidge became the nextpresident. He wasinaugurated at his family farm inVermont by his father,John Calvin Coolidge Sr.[4]
Coolidge finished Harding's term and was elected in 1924 to continue to be theUnited States president.
Coolidge was president during a prosperous economy, and the country did not face many challenges. He believed that the federal government should be as small as possible. He supported tax cuts and wanted the federal government to avoid intervening in the economy. He was the first president to lead a public celebration of the Christmas holidays.[5]
Coolidge was criticized for refusing to givesubsidies to farmers.Also, when a giant flood happened on theMississippi River in 1927, he did not want the federal government to be involved. That was part of his belief offederalism in which the country's problems should be solved mainly by state and local governments, rather than the federal government.
He did not run for re-election in 1928 and publishedhis autobiography the following year. He died of a heart attack in Massachusetts when he was 60.
Hislegacy is mixed. People who support more federal government involvement in the economy do not like him. People who support less federal government involvement in the economy like him.
