by Robert Sobel
Coolidge’s tone perfectly conveyed how he viewed his position in the most practical of terms. This response offers insight into how Coolidge would perform as vice president under Warren G. Harding.
Stearns admired Coolidge because of his principles, and here the lieutenant governor was demonstrating constancy and respect for the political pecking order—which of course was political pragmatism, as well. Although Coolidge indicated that McCall’s ideas were not his, he implied that when he became governor, things would be different. In the meantime he would be as still as possible and permit others to voice objections. In this way, Coolidge could be the loyal subaltern and yet maintain his principles.
The nation edged toward war, but Coolidge continued to deliver speeches on local and state matters. He said little about national affairs, and when he criticized the Wilson administration, it tended to be for its domestic rather than foreign policies. In any case, the big issue in the state was neither economic nor political, but constitutional. McCall wanted a state constitutional convention, and one was arranged to begin on June 6, 1917. Coolidge was not a candidate for delegate, but he did attend some of the meetings. There were three sessions, the final one on August 12, 1919. In the end the electorate ratified the new constitution, but then the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court set it aside. Some changes were accepted, as well as a provision for the consolidation of many state commissions, meaning the next governor or the one taking office in 1921 would have to dismiss quite a few officeholders, and in addition, starting in 1920, serve a two-year rather than a one-year term.
The team of McCall and Coolidge entered the lists once again in 1917. There was a rumor that Coolidge would oppose McCall in the primary, but the Boston Evening Transcript editorialized that there was nothing to it. After McCall won the primary, the paper wrote:Calvin Coolidge… who has shown himself one of the shrewdest “politicians,” in the best sense of that oftentimes abused word, and one of the biggest vote getters that Massachusetts has even seen, is one big reason for the McCall “landslide.”… Whatever he may have individually done to accomplish yesterday’s result, there is no doubt that his hosts of friends throughout the commonwealth, regardless of their personal sentiments about McCall, did all they could to renominate His Excellency. They were determined to leave nothing undone that would prevent the side-tracking of Coolidge as Governor McCall’s successor next year in the gubernatorial chair; and with that end in view, they were a large factor in the result.
McCall once again faced Mansfield in the general election, while Coolidge’s opponent was Bostonian Matthew Hale, a former Progressive who hoped to woo some of those voters from the GOP. Coolidge did not appear too troubled by the prospect. The Boston Herald, always favorable to Coolidge, supported him again, and predicted he would win easily, which he did. Coolidge won with a margin of 102,000, again more than McCall, whose margin was 85,000. Coolidge even came within 2,500 votes of winning in Democratic Boston. “I told you the Irish vote would probably be for me,” he wrote to his father after the votes were counted. “It was the same story in all the cities. This is not to be repeated. No one knows what will happen in a year’s time, but it looks as though I would be nominated for governor.” Referring to the Boston vote, the Daily Hampshire Gazette wrote:The astonishing way in which the man from Northampton cut down the Boston man’s vote in even his own city, from the normal for a Democratic candidate in the biggest Democratic stronghold of the state, is simply another evidence of Calvin Coolidge’s ability as a vote getter, and is an augury of what will happen next year.
Within a few months McCall told Coolidge he did not intend to try for a fourth term, leaving the way open for Coolidge to start campaigning for the nomination. McCall was stepping down for two reasons: tradition, and the slim chance he might replace John Weeks as the GOP senatorial nominee, and in this way, avenge his defeat by Weeks six years earlier. Weeks was not particularly popular. His anemic showing as a favorite son contender for the presidential nomination in 1916 wasn’t any help, especially since David Walsh indicated an interest in the Democratic nomination. Nevertheless, Weeks had sufficient power—with Crane’s support—to throw back any challenge, and in the end McCall abandoned his ambitions for the U.S. Senate.
Coolidge announced his candidacy for governor on June 23, 1918, by which time the United States had entered the war. As expected, the news from France received more attention than the gubernatorial race, as American troops engaged in battle for the first time on a large scale. The Soviet Revolution in Russia prompted fears of Bolshevism, and resulted in passage of a Sedition Act, the beginning of what would later become the Red Scare. By autumn the influenza pandemic hit America, and by October the death rate in Boston, which was particularly hard hit, had risen more than 700 percent. All of this pushed thoughts of the forthcoming election to the back burner.
Coolidge received the gubernatorial nomination without opposition, and Channing Cox, a Boston-based lawyer, was selected over Guy Ham for the lieutenant governorship. Cox had been Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1915, and had attended Dartmouth and the Harvard Law School. The Democrats had a large field, and in the end settled on Richard Long, the owner and manager of a large shoe factory in Framingham, who was to finance his own campaign, which was instrumental in his nomination. Long was a former Republican who had switched to the Democrats in a failed bid to be Walsh’s running mate in 1914, after which he returned to the GOP. His eagerness for the gubernatorial nomination had much to do with a running feud Long had with the United Shoe Manufacturing Company that involved patent infringement. That company was a staunch supporter of the Republicans, hence Long’s willingness to return to the Democrats. Such switching had not been unusual in state politics since the Republican split in 1912, but it did lead many to question Long’s sincerity. To balance him, the Democrats chose Joseph O’Neal of Boston, a banker and devoted Democrat, for the lieutenant governorship.
Coolidge ran on the McCall record, which is to say, moderate political progressivism combined with fiscal conservatism, a vague opposition to Prohibition and support for women’s suffrage, and backing for the war. The Democrats also came out for the suffrage, and called for an eight-hour workday and old age pensions. In addition, they supported the initiative and referendum, a central issue at the constitutional convention, and public ownership and control of utilities.
On the surface, Coolidge seemed to have a relatively easy time of it in 1918. The threat of a McCall candidacy was gone, and Crane’s grip on the state remained strong. Stearns was working full-time lining up voters, and his purse and those of his friends were at Coolidge’s disposal. The party was solidly behind him, and Lodge supported Coolidge, thinking quite naturally that the governorship was the height of ambition for this provincial lawyer. Lodge even wrote to Theodore Roosevelt about Coolidge on October 7:Calvin Coolidge, our present lieutenant governor, is our candidate for governor. He is a graduate of Amherst, a very able, sagacious man of pure New England type. He is not only wise and tolerant, but he also has an excellent capacity for firmness when firmness is needed. He has been ardently for the war from the beginning. He has been in thorough sympathy with your views and mine, and in his campaign he has not been talking for himself at all but just making war speeches.
This prompted TR, who favored the war and criticized President Wilson for taking too soft a line, to endorse Coolidge on October 28. Though of the boilerplate variety, the endorsement was important:Mr. Coolidge is a high-minded public servant of the type which Massachusetts has always been honorably anxious to see at the head of the state government; a man who has the forward look and who is anxious to secure genuine social and industrial justice in the only way it can effectively be secured, that is, by basing a jealous insistence upon the rights of all, on the foundation of legislation that will guarantee the welfare of all.
Even with such strong support, Coolidge faced a host of problems. The dissension caused by the Weeks–McCall contest di
vided their supporters. McCall had been a fine if not electrifying campaigner, while Weeks was drab; the contrast was striking, just as it was between the personable Long and the dry Coolidge—which did not help the Republicans’ chances. Coolidge and Weeks differed on Prohibition and labor issues, which created more problems. As Lodge indicated, Coolidge supported the war and on the stump spoke more often of patriotism than state issues, but he could go no further than endorsing the McCall record. In an atypically passionate speech, Coolidge said:The past four years has shown the world the existence of a conspiracy against mankind of a vastness and a wickedness that could only be believed when seen in operation and confessed by its participants. This conspiracy was promoted by the German military despotism. It probably was encouraged by the results of three wars—one against Denmark which robbed her of territory, and one against France which robbed her of territory and a cash indemnity of a billion dollars. These seemingly easy successes encouraged their perpetrators to plan for the pillage and enslavement of the earth.
Since there was only a small German–American population in Massachusetts, Coolidge need not have worried about losing votes from such a stance. But the Boston Irish could not have been particularly pleased with this strong rhetoric, for to them it implied approval of the despised United Kingdom.
By 1918 industrial eastern Massachusetts had grown larger than the bucolic western part of the state, due in part to the influx of industrial workers from Europe and the movement to the factories. The Democratic voters were increasing in number, while the Republicans were standing still. The full impact of these changes would not be felt for more than a decade, but the signs were there, and they troubled Coolidge and his followers. Just before the primaries, Coolidge wrote to his stepmother about his prospects: There is no occasion for you or father to worry about the election. It looks very favorable; but of course it is impossible to forecast it, as elections are always very uncertain. I have been handsomely treated in Massachusetts, whether I happen to secure this election or not.
It was a difficult campaign, for Long proved a slashing candidate, attacking Coolidge as a reactionary and tool of the McCall interests. Long also supported the war, and promised the returning veterans a bonus of $360. Beyond that, he would abolish the poll tax and increase taxes on the wealthy.
Most of the newspapers supported Coolidge. The Boston Herald came out for him, contrasting “Coolidge the Constructionist” with “Long the Profiteer.” This referred to the accusation that Long had charged the government exorbitant prices for shoes for the military. Coolidge said nothing on the matter. As with his other statewide campaigns, he refused to mention his opponent in public.
Just before Election Day, Coolidge again blasted the Germans. As he had throughout the campaign, he wrapped himself in the flag, which he could afford to do since he was clearly ahead. Long, as the underdog, hammered away at state problems, while Coolidge simply ignored him and them:America has been performing a great service for humanity. In that service we have arisen to a new glory. The people of the nation without distinction have been performing a great service for America. In it they have realized a new citizenship. Prussianism fails. Americanism succeeds. Education is to teach men not what to think but how to think. Government will take on new activities, but it is not more to control the people, the people are more to control the government.
Of course none of this had anything to do with the issues of the contest, and was dismissed by the Democrats as blather, while Republicans noted that Coolidge never offered comfort to the Wilson administration. Rather, his remarks on the war were conventional, patriotic, and vague. When he did discuss state policies, it was in generalities:The duties of governor of the commonwealth are not intricate or burdensome if a man looks upon their discharge as a public function and not as a personal prerogative. If chosen to be your governor, I shall try to conduct the duties of the office so as to merit the sincere endorsement of men of fair minds and in all parties. I can promise nothing more. I would not deem myself worthy of your support if I promised anything less.
If Coolidge would not delve deeply into the issues, he also refused to return the attacks leveled at him by the Long forces. The Democrats printed an advertisement alleging that Coolidge did not completely support the Wilson war programs and had no record to speak of. Angered, Stearns prepared a counter-advertisement featuring the endorsement of prominent public figures, and showed it to the candidate. In writing of the episode to his son, Stearns said that Coolidge remarked, “It is a good advertisement, but I will not get into a controversy of that kind. I will not attack an individual. If the people of Massachusetts do not know me well enough to understand the animus of such advertisements and are not willing to elect me without my answering every indiscriminate attack, then I would rather be defeated.” In his last speech of the campaign, however, he did refer obliquely to the Long campaign:We need to say a word of caution and warning. I am responsible for what I have said and what I have done. I am not responsible for what my opponents say I have said or say I have done either on the stump or in untrue political advertisements and untrue posters. I shall not deal with these. I do not care to touch them, but I do not want any of my fellow-citizens to misunderstand my ignoring them as expressing any attitude other than considering such attempts unworthy of notice when men are fighting for the preservation of our country.
Coolidge defeated Long by the narrow margin of 214,000 to 197,000, the smallest in his statewide career—a plurality of only 17,000. This was the same plurality by which Walsh defeated Weeks, becoming Massachusetts’s first Democratic senator since the Civil War. Walsh’s election also indicated that, despite his earlier defeat by McCall, he remained a popular figure in the state, so much so that he was the only Democrat to win a statewide race.
Something seismic was happening in Massachusetts. It wasn’t only Walsh’s popularity, but also the turning of the tide toward the immigrants he represented. Astute politician that he was, Coolidge must have known what this implied. He would have to seek either stronger support from the conservative elements of the state or a way to appeal to the newcomers, who were more liberal than he.
The world was changing as he watched. In a relatively short period Coolidge had come from the insular Plymouth Notch to the larger environment of Northampton, and had adjusted with ease to a place of new sidewalks and street lamps. Then he learned how to appeal to the quite different population of eastern Massachusetts, with its immigrants and factory workers. The changes continued. Coming from a place untouched by the railroad, Coolidge had had to accommodate himself to one in which the automobile was becoming commonplace. Lieutenant Governor Coolidge did not own a motorcar, and he became the last president not to have flown in an airplane. At a time when the United States was becoming a major factor in world politics, Coolidge had never traveled west of the Mississippi—or the Appalachians, for that matter. The thought of going overseas had not entered his mind. Nor would it. Other than that week-long honeymoon to Montreal, the only time Coolidge left the United States was for a short trip to Havana in January 1928, where he went to address the opening session of the Sixth International Conference of American States—and he left as soon as he could.
Coolidge was inaugurated as governor of Massachusetts on January 1, 1919, the day the War Industries Board closed down. The Great War was over, and President Woodrow Wilson was in Europe trying to put together a durable peace and create a League of Nations. The nation was in the grip of a postwar depression, as military contracts were suddenly canceled and soldiers and sailors dismissed from the armed services, all of which affected Massachusetts more than most states. The war had ended less than two months earlier, and now the state had to face the problems posed by reconversion to peacetime activities and the returning servicemen. His speech on this occasion was another in the tradition of “Have Faith in Massachusetts.” Coolidge concentrated on those by-then-familiar homilies; turning to the members of the General Court, he asked questions but pr
ovided no answers:It is your duty not only to reflect public opinion, but to lead it. Whether we are able to enter a new era in Massachusetts depends upon you. The lessons of the war are plain. Can we carry them on into peace? Can we still act on the principle that there is no sacrifice too great to maintain the right? Shall we continue to advocate and practice thrift and industry? Shall we requite unswerving loyalty to our country? These are the foundations of all greatness.
And his generalities revealed a man who was still progressive on many social issues:Each citizen must have the rewards and opportunities worthy of the character of our citizenship, a broader recognition of his worth and larger liberty, protected by order—and always under the law. In the promotion of human welfare, Massachusetts happily may not need much reconstruction, but, like all living organizations, forever needs continuing construction. Let there be a purpose in all your legislation to recognize the right of a man to be well born, well nurtured, well educated, well employed, and well paid. This is no gospel of ease and selfishness, or class distinction but a gospel of effort and service, of universal application.