Calvin Coolidge Sworn in as President
The presidents of that time did not have the same modern presidency we do today. They inherited a simple presidency: “Coolidge was the last president to spend hours standing in the White House lobby greeting and shaking hands with casual visitors on their tours. He was the last president to have only one secretary and no other aides. Coolidge still didn’t know how to drive an automobile. He didn’t have a telephone on his desk: there was one in a little booth outside his office, but he never used it.” (It was undignified)
Sobel,Coolidge, An American Enigma, p. 235
Friday August 2 – Saturday August 3, 1923:
10:32 PM EST: Harding Dies Friday August 2 in San Francisco at 7:32pm PST
11:30 PM EST: Bridgewater switch board Nellie Perkins
Midnight: Plymouth Message
2:47 AM Saturday August 3: Inauguration
Calvin Coolidge’s first task was to reassure the country that it was in good hands and to properly mourn the loss of Warren Harding. Harding “was genuinely loved.” (Sobel, p. 234)