Chronology of President Calvin Coolidge
| 1872 | ||
| July 4 | John Calvin Coolidge is born in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. | |
| 1875 | ||
| April 15 | Calvin’s sister, Abigail Grace Coolidge (Abbie) is born. | |
| 1877 | ||
| September | Calvin starts school. | |
| 1885 | ||
| March 14 | Victoria Moor Coolidge, Calvin’s mother, dies at age 39. | |
| 1890 | ||
| March 6 | Abigail Grace Coolidge, Calvin’s sister, dies at age 14. | |
| May 23 | Calvin graduates from Black River Academy, in Ludlow, VT, as secretary of his class. He gives a speech, “Oratory in History.” | |
| 1891 | ||
| August 19 | Attends centennial celebration of Vermont’s statehood featuring dedication of the Bennington Battle Monument; hears President Benjamin Harrison deliver an address. | |
| September 9 | Col. John Coolidge marries Carrie Brown Coolidge. Calvin prepares at St. Johnsbury Prep School. | |
| September 17 | Calvin begins Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts. | |
| 1895 | ||
| June 26 | Graduates cum laude from Amherst College. Classmates vote for Calvin to give the “Grove Oration,” a humorous address. Calvin Coolidge drops ‘John’ from his name (although he continues to sign letters to his father ‘J. Calvin Coolidge’ as late as January 10, 1896) In his senior year, Calvin entered an essay contest sponsored by The Sons of the American Revolution, it was open to all seniors of all the colleges of the nation. He won the first prize — a gold medal worth about one hundred and fifty dollars. | |
| September 23 | Begins to read law with the firm of Hammond and Field in Northampton, Massachusetts. | |
| December 13 | Coolidge wins gold medal from Sons of the American Revolution in a National Essay Competition for “The Principles Fought For in the American Revolution.” | |
| 1895-1897 | ||
| Studies Law in Northampton, Massachusetts. | ||
| 1897 | ||
| July 2 | Coolidge gains entrance to the bar in Northampton, and later is appointed Republican City Committee from Ward 2. | |
| 1898 | ||
| Calvin Coolidge opens his law office. | ||
| December 6 | Appointed City Councilman from Ward 2. | |
| 1900 | ||
| January 18 | Elected (by City Council) City Solicitor. | |
| October 14 | The father of Calvin, John C. Coolidge, is commissioned Aide-de-camp on the staff of Vermont Governor William W. Stickney with the rank of Col. | |
| 1901 | ||
| January 17 | Reelected City Solicitor. | |
| 1902 | ||
| January 16 | Defeated for City Solicitor by Theobald M. Connor. | |
| 1903 | ||
| June 4 | Appointed Clerk of Courts of Hampshire County. | |
| 1904 | ||
| Chairman, Republican City Committee, Northampton. Meets Grace Anna Goodhue. | ||
| 1905 | ||
| October 4 | Marries Grace Anna Goodhue at Burlington, Vermont. | |
| December 5 | Defeated for School Committeeman by John J. Kennedy. | |
| 1906 | ||
| August | Rents half of the double house at 21 Massasoit Street, Northampton, MA. | |
| September 7 | Birth of John Coolidge, first child. | |
| November 6 | Elected Representative to the Massachusetts General Court. | |
| 1907 | ||
| November 5 | Reelected Representative. | |
| 1908 | ||
| April 13 | Birth of Calvin Coolidge, Jr., second child. | |
| 1909 | ||
| December 7 | Elected mayor of Northampton, beginning a continuous course of public service to March 4, 1929. | |
| 1910 | ||
| December 6 | Reelected Mayor. | |
| 1911 | ||
| November 7 | Elected State Senator. | |
| 1912 | ||
| November 5 | Reelected State Senator. | |
| 1913 | ||
| November 4 | Reelected State Senator, and subsequently elected President of the Senate by the Senators. | |
| 1914 | ||
| January 7 | Delivers “Have Faith in Massachusetts” Address to the Massachusetts Senate, his first address as president of the senate. | |
| November 3 | Reelected State Senator and President of the Senate. | |
| 1915 | ||
| May 12 | Sixty-five Amherst alumni meet at the Algonquin Club in Boston, Massachusetts for a dinner organized by Frank Waterman Stearns honoring fellow alumnus, Senator Calvin Coolidge. | |
| November 2 | Elected Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts. | |
| 1916 | ||
| November 7 | Reelected Lieutenant-Governor. | |
| 1917 | ||
| November 6 | Reelected Lieutenant-Governor. | |
| 1918 | ||
| August 7 | Coolidge on World War I | |
| September 14 | Coolidge on World War I | |
| November 2 | Coolidge on World War I | |
| November 4 | Coolidge on World War I | |
| November 5 | Elected Governor of Massachusetts at the age of 47. | |
| 1919 | ||
| January 2 | First Inaugural Speech as Governor of Massachusetts: reflections on W.W.I. | |
| September 9-11 | Boston Police Strike. Governor Coolidge comes to national attention because of his stand for law and order. In a telegram to Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, he declares: “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, anytime.” | |
| November 4 | Reelected Governor. | |
| 1920 | ||
| January 8 | Address to the General Court beginning the 2nd year as Governor of Massachusetts. | |
| May 18 | Calvin Coolidge’s stepmother, Carrie Brown Coolidge, dies. | |
| June 12 | Nominated for Vice-president by the Republican National Convention meeting in Chicago. Warren G. Harding, US Senator from Ohio, is the Republican candidate for the Presidency. | |
| July 27 | Official notification of the Republican nomination for the Vice-Presidency at Allen Field, Smith College, Northampton, MA. | |
| November 2 | Elected Vice-president of the United States. | |
| 1921 | ||
| March 4 | Warren G. Harding inaugurated as President, Calvin Coolidge as Vice-president, of the United States. Coolidge’s Inaugural Address. | |
| May 28 | Elected life trustee of Amherst College Tuskeegee dedication. | |
| 1923 | ||
| August 3 | Upon news of President Harding’s death in San Francisco at 7:30p.m. on August 2 Calvin Coolidge is sworn in as President by his father, a notary public, in the homestead at Plymouth, Vermont at 2:47 a.m. | |
| December 6 | Legislation proposals in address to Congress. | |
| 1924 | ||
| Coolidge appoints special legal council to investigate scandals such as the “Teapot Dome.” | ||
| June 2 | Coolidge signs bill making Indians citizens of the United States. | |
| June 12 | Nominated for President by Marion L. Burton, former President of Smith College at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Charles G. Dawes, of Illinois, nominated for Vice-president. | |
| July 7 | Calvin Coolidge, Jr., second son, dies at Walter Reed Hospital from blood poisoning. | |
| November 4 | Elected President of the United States in his own right. Coolidge and the KKK. | |
| 1925 | ||
| March 4 | Inauguration as President. Foreign policy and his relationship with the press. | |
| 1926 | ||
| March 18 | Colonel John Coolidge dies. | |
| December 7 | Fourth annual message to Congress: he notes the peace and prosperity. He calls for tax cuts and praises tariffs for revenue. He backs regulation of the radio and stronger national banks. He calls for a reduction in government bureaus which seek to regulate and control the business activities of the people. | |
| 1927 | ||
| Coolidge farm policy. | ||
| June 11 | Meets with Lindbergh and awards Distinguished Flying Cross. | |
| August 2 | From summer White House at Rapid City, South Dakota, issues statement, “I do not choose to run for President in nineteen twenty-eight.” | |
| August 10 | Dedicates work on Mt. Rushmore. | |
| 1928 | ||
| January 16 | Gives address at Sixth Annual International Conference of American States in Havana, Cuba. (This, and 1905 October honeymoon in Montreal are the only times Calvin Coolidge leaves the United States.) | |
| August 27 | Signs the Pact of Paris, the Kellogg-Briand Pact, considered at the time a significant forward step in international relations. Under it 62 nations renounce war as a means of international policy. The pact is ratified by the US Senate and signed by President Coolidge January 17, 1929. Legacy. | |
| 1929 | ||
| March 4 | After attending the Inauguration of Herbert Hoover as President, Mr. and Mrs. Coolidge return to live at 21 Massasoit Street, Northampton, MA. | |
| May | The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge is published. | |
| 1930 | ||
| March 4 | Ex-President Coolidge dedicates Coolidge Dam, near Globe, Arizona. It was the largest dome dam in the world with a capacity of 1,200,000 acre feet. | |
| May 17 | The Coolidges move to The Beeches on Hampton Terrace, Northampton, MA. | |
| 1933 | ||
| January 5 | Calvin Coolidge dies at age 60 in Northampton home from a coronary thrombosis. | |
| 1936 | ||
| April 17 | The Northampton City Council appropriates funds to purchase exhibit and book cases, establishing at Forbes Library the first memorial to Calvin Coolidge. | |
| 1939 | ||
| October 12 | Calvin Coolidge Memorial Bridge, linking Northampton, MA and Hadley, MA is dedicated. US Senator David I. Walsh gives the principal address and Governor Leverett Saltonstall is the ranking Commonwealth official. | |
| 1956 | ||
| June 16 | Mr. and Mrs. John Coolidge give Coolidge Homestead in Plymouth, Vermont, to State of Vermont as a state shrine. It opens to the public in July 1957. | |
| September 16 | The Calvin Coolidge Memorial Room in the Forbes Library is dedicated. Dr. Claude M. Fuess, biographer of Calvin Coolidge, gave the address and Gov. Christian A. Herter delivered dedicatory remarks. | |
| 1957 | ||
| July 8 | Grace Coolidge dies in Northampton, MA at age 78. Born, Burlington, VT, January 3, 1879. | |
| 1960 | ||
| The Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation is established. | ||
| 1968 | ||
| August | The Coolidge birthplace, general store and post office at Plymouth, Vermont, is acquired by State of Vermont to be restored. | |
| 1971 | ||
| August | Ground broken for Coolidge Memorial Reception Center and Museum, Plymouth, Vermont. | |
| 1972 | ||
| July 4 | Centennial of Coolidge’s birth celebrated in Plymouth, Vermont. | |
| 1996 | ||
| John Coolidge turns 90, makes his part time residence in Plymouth, Vermont his full time residence. | ||
| 1998 | ||
| July 30-31 | Two-day conference “Calvin Coolidge: Examining the Evidence” at the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, Massachusetts. | |
| August 2-3 | 75th Homestead Inaugural reenactment and celebration at Plymouth Notch, Vermont. | |
| 2000 | ||
| May 31 | John Coolidge, son of Calvin and Grace Coolidge, dies at age 93 |