The Scene – Vice President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge visit his father, Col. John Coolidge, in August of 1923.  Calvin spends August 2nd digging out some rot from a maple in his father’s front yard, eats his supper and goes to bed about nine o’clock.

    “On the night of August 2, 1923, I was awakened by my father coming up the stairs calling my name.  I noticed that his voice trembled.  As the only times I had ever observed that before were when death had visited our family, I knew that something of the gravest nature had occurred….He had been the first to address me as President of the United States.  It was the culmination of the lifelong desire of a father for the success of his son. He placed in my hands an official report and told me that President Harding had just passed away.” (Coolidge wrote his in his Autobiography)

    This week I just walked through the sitting room where the kerosene lamp, Bible, and pen are still arranged for the oath of office that Col. John Coolidge used to swear his son in as president. Braided rugs line the floor. A handle pump in the sink evokes an earlier, less convenient era.  Dishes are placed upside down on the table to keep the dust off overnight, as Aurora Pierce, the housekeeper dictated.  No electricity or phones are seen. The kerosene lamp lit the room.  A telegram delivery man awakened the house with the news of the death of President Harding.

Visitors to President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site in Plymouth, Vermont can walk up to the room, press their noses against the glass and witness the same scene today.  The remarkable simplicity and the amazing story are remembered by historians in Vermont.  This event was number 10 in importance on the list of events created by the Associated Press for the twentieth century in Vermont.

    There are still some mysteries surrounding the homestead inaugural.  Who was in the room?  Calvin wrote that Grace, Senator Porter Dale of Vermont, the vice president’s stenographer and his chauffeur were in the room.  Joe Fountain, a reporter for the Rutland Herald, added himself, L.L. Lane, a railway mail clerk, and Thompson, commander of the Springfield American Legion Post, to the group.

Where are the copies of the oath of office?  None are at the Library of Congress, nor at the historic site or other Coolidge repositories.

    One mystery is cleared up.  Calvin kept it a secret from his father but he was sworn in again by a federal judge after the homestead inaugural. It was in a quiet hotel, away from the prying eyes of the media two weeks after his father had done the same thing in Plymouth. This second oath only came to light in 1932 when the judge chose to reveal it.

    How did Vermont take this news of their hometown boy becoming president? The Vermont Standard, a weekly, wrote of  “Our Unaffected President” on August 9th.  Calvin Coolidge is “untarnished by the artificialities of politics and social stress.”  Calvin Coolidge had the confidence of a man who knew that convention delegates in 1920 had wanted him for President.  As he said, “That was prevented by some of the Federal office holders who were bent on having one of their own and controlled enough votes to accomplish it.”  The United States now had a President who was unbought and unbossed and largely unknown.  Vermont’s contribution to the nation was considerable.