Colonel Coolidge of Plymouth Notch
In a June 1924 New York Times Magazine article, Rose Feld spoke with President Calvin Coolidge's father for a rare interview.
John Calvin Coolidge Sr. named his son John Calvin Coolidge as well, though his son went by his middle name (and without the "junior"). The father had previously served in both the Vermont state House and state Senate, as a Republican like his son.
The father's biggest claim to fame in American history: swearing his son in as president.
While the Chief Justice of the United States usually does the honors, that's not actually a requirement; it just has to be some judicial officer. The younger Coolidge was visiting his family home when President Warren Harding died of a heart attack. Since the elder Coolidge was a justice of the peace, he swore his vice president son into the presidency.
In 1925, during the younger Coolidge's second inauguration after winning election in his own right, tradition returned and Chief Justice William Howard Taft administered the oath of office.
The journalist Rose Feld — whose name kind of sounds like "Roosevelt" — trekked up to the Green Mountain State to interview the elder Coolidge. The "Plymouth" of her article's title refers to the town in Vermont, not the same-named town in Massachusetts where the Pilgrims landed in 1620.
Notable interview quotes from the elder Coolidge...
On not owning a car:
"Well, I reckon I can have a car if I want one. I reckon I can get one when I want one. I haven't yet decided that I do. I find it satisfactory coming down to town behind a horse. A horse is a good way of traveling, a sure way. Traveling on foot is even better when the distance isn't too great."
On owning a radio:
"They also made me get a radio. I didn't want it, but everybody thought I ought to have it, so I let them put it in. But I don't care much for it. I haven't time for it."
On his son's status:
"I wouldn't say Cal was a statesman or a politician."
"Would would you call him, then?"
"I don't know. A good, plain, hardworking country boy. That's all."
"Nothing else?"
"Nothing else."
What about Coolidge's mother? Victoria Josephine Moor died several decades prior, in 1885 at only age 39, when her son was 12. The cause of death is unknown, though it may have been tuberculosis.
The elder Coolidge died in March 1926, less than two years after his New York Times Magazine interview.
As of 2024, none of the three most recent presidents had either parent alive by the start of their presidency: neither Obama, Trump, nor Biden. The last president with either parent alive was George W. Bush, who actually had both.
But at least one presidential grandparent has outlived their grandchild, though it comes with a giant asterisk because of assassination. Kennedy's grandmother lived to 98 and actually outlived her presidential grandson by 10 months.
Colonel Coolidge of Plymouth Notch
Published: Sunday, June 22, 1924