Coolidge

by Robert Sobel

  As far as Stearns was concerned, any change in Coolidge’s attitudes was part of his maturity. In a letter to a business associate, Robert Maynard, on August 16, 1916, Stearns wrote:He told me once that when he first went into the legislature he supposes he was considered a radical, especially along the lines of legislation in favor of social betterment. There came a time around the middle of his legislative experience when he came to the conviction not that his previous ideas were wrong but that Massachusetts, at any rate, was going too fast. As he put it, legislation was outstripping the ability to administer. He felt that unless we were willing to get into serious trouble that would take years to rectify, a halt must be called; and he faced about and was probably then considered a conservative.

  Encouraged by Stearns, his traditional friends, and the Amherst alumni, Coolidge prepared to run for lieutenant governor. His public statements became far more restrained, perhaps because Coolidge realized that Samuel McCall would get the gubernatorial nomination and that he was positioning himself to balance the ticket by being to the right of the leader. Or, as Stearns suggested, his restraint in this time might reflect the gradual alteration of his own philosophy. Coolidge’s attitudes on public matters had developed when Progressivism was a potent force on the state scene, but by 1915 it seemed certain TR would return to the GOP and the Progressive Party would disintegrate.

  Republican Grafton Cushing, who had been president of the senate and then lieutenant governor, might have stayed on in the latter post, but in this period he had ambitions for the governorship itself. Were this not the case, Coolidge would not have made the race, given his cautious nature and the style of Massachusetts GOP politics. But Cushing opened the way for Coolidge to run for lieutenant governor.

  During the next few months Coolidge conferred with Crane, Field, and Stearns, among others, about his chances. He would not make the move until and unless the odds were strongly in his favor—Coolidge did not relish the idea of a losing campaign. There is some evidence that he sought a backup position, selection for one bureaucratic job or another if the bid failed. But finally, on June 20, he went to see Stearns, and handed him a note:I am a candidate for lieutenant governor.

  Calvin Coolidge

  His more formal announcement soon after was almost as spare.

  I am a candidate for lieutenant governor. This announcement is made for the purpose of informing my fellow-citizens of my plans. I shall discuss my reasons for being a candidate and place before the voters an expression of my views upon those issues which confront the people of Massachusetts.

  A trifle miffed, Stearns asked Coolidge why he hadn’t made the announcement while the senate was in session, in order to maximize the impact and give him more time to electioneer. Coolidge’s reply indicated how sophisticated he had become in the ways of Massachusetts politics: I could not have acted like myself if I had announced my candidacy during the session. No matter what I did or said, it would have been misconstrued, and there would have been thirty-nine candidates to succeed me as president of the senate. It would have interfered with the public business of the senate.

  As noted, the candidates for both governor and lieutenant governor would be selected through the primary process, which meant that they had to appeal to the electorate rather than the party bosses, which suited Stearns. He sprang into action, sending off his missives throughout the state, drumming up support. Coolidge did the same, with behind-the-scenes help from William Butler and the powerful Crane organization. A committee was established to take charge of the campaign, with Stearns as chairman and representatives from all parts of the state. Stearns made it quite clear that he was willing to spend large amounts in Coolidge’s behalf. But it wasn’t necessary; as Coolidge wrote in his Autobiography, “[T]he expense [of my campaign for lieutenant governor] was within the allowed limit of $1,500, which was contributed by numerous people. I was thus under no especial obligation to any one for raising money for me.”

  Coolidge’s major adversary was Guy Ham, a Boston lawyer and an old-fashioned orator who had Rooseveltian overtones, with Prohibitionist proclivities. Although Ham had served in the General Court, he lacked the leadership role Coolidge possessed. The leading gubernatorial candidate was Samuel McCall, now sixty-six years old. He again intended to appeal to former Progressives to return to their old home. His opponents included Cushing, who had strength only in eastern Massachusetts, and Eugene Foss, the erratic former governor whose party switches both confused and irritated the electorate. In the gubernatorial nomination the party members had a known quality in McCall versus the unknown and the capricious, while the race for the nomination for lieutenant governor was between the solid Coolidge and the flamboyant Ham. On September 28, a week after the primary, while the ballots were still being counted, Coolidge wrote to his father, telling him that all was well, and that it looked as though he had won. He added a few words about Stearns. “I do not know why he has been so interested in my success but he has been very much so. He has never taken any part in politics before. He is a great worker.”

  On another occasion Coolidge wrote again to his father about his chances for the nomination:The campaign is coming to a close and while it is impossible to tell what is going to happen the outcome seems to be good. I think I have been making very large gains in the past two weeks. Every newspaper of importance in the state is supporting me. The business interests also appear to be on my side. Whatever the outcome may be my support has been such that I am very proud of it and feel that I shall be a gainer by having been a candidate even if I am not nominated.

  Coolidge defeated Ham by a lopsided vote of 75,000 to 50,000, and McCall won the gubernatorial nomination over his two rivals with 66,000 votes to Cushing’s 60,000 and Foss’s 10,000. As anticipated, the Democrats renominated Walsh and ran the colorless former lieutenant governor Edward Barry—who had preceded Cushing in that office and had lost to him in 1913—against Coolidge.

  It was a vigorous campaign. McCall and Coolidge campaigned together, and the contrast between the flamboyant gubernatorial candidate and the drab Coolidge was striking, but they complemented one another nicely. Their stump styles were a study in contrasts. William Allen White wrote that “McCall could fill any hall in Massachusetts and Coolidge could empty it.” McCall would appeal to the reform elements, while Coolidge was there to assure the regulars of “sound government.” If Coolidge had the Amherst contingent hard at work in his behalf, McCall, who was a staunch and active member of the Dartmouth alumni association—he had once been offered the presidency of the college—could count on support from that quarter.

  Stearns led the campaign for Coolidge as though he were running for national office. He flooded the state with copies of “Have Faith in Massachusetts,” and the Coolidge campaign may have even cost more than McCall’s. Stearns brought in some outside speakers to assist his candidate, including Senator Warren Harding of Ohio. Walsh was harmed by allegations that he would support Prohibition, a major source of contention, but in fact none of the four candidates was a Prohibitionist.

  This time, unlike in the primary, Coolidge was quite confident of the results. On October 10 he wrote to his stepmother about his prospects: “I would not be surprised if I got the most votes of anyone on the ticket”—which indeed was the case. McCall defeated Walsh by a vote of 235,000 to 229,000, while Coolidge’s margin was more than 52,000. Coolidge wrote to his father, “I have no doubt that my being on the ticket elected Mr. McCall.” The Boston Herald appeared to agree. “The election has given the Republican Party a new leader in its lieutenant governor–elect, Calvin Coolidge of Northampton.” The Daily Hampshire Gazette seconded the thought, but took note of several important aspects of the races:Calvin Coolidge is the great vote-getter, and will be governor in time. He was fortunate in the man he had against him, while McCall was unfortunate. Walsh was popular, and it was a wonder people voted against him. Barry was not popular. Coolidge had this to help him and McCall had opposite conditions to pull
against him. But Coolidge has positive qualities which attract votes. He is efficient. He understands the state business and has made one of the best senate presidents on record. His speeches are gems, and have attracted more attention than those of any man in public life for many years. There is a real basis for the popularity of Mr. Coolidge, and it will last.

  Stearns was ecstatic. Replying to Coolidge’s rather formal letter of thanks, he wrote:As I look at it, your campaigns have only had an auspicious opening. They are in their early stages as yet. As long as I have health and strength, you can count on me…. I am almost staggered by the realization that every step now must be taken with great care, because the opportunity is wonderful and the need is almost beyond words.

  World War I had begun, and by the time Coolidge was inaugurated on January 6, 1916, it was apparent that dreams of a short war would not be realized. It was the beginning of a presidential year, in which Woodrow Wilson would campaign on the slogan “He Kept Us Out of War,” and then, after he won the election, would ask for a war declaration. The world was changing rapidly, and in Massachusetts, the solid, dependable, old-fashioned Calvin Coolidge, a man whose values and outlook were so well attuned to the prewar period, was the most striking politician in the state of Massachusetts—a near-certain future nominee for the governorship.

  5

  Governor Coolidge

  It was no secret that I desired to be governor. Under the custom of promotion in Massachusetts a man who did not expect to advance would scarcely be willing to be lieutenant governor. But I did nothing in the way of organizing my friends to secure the nomination. It is much better not to press a candidacy too much, but to let it develop on its own merits without artificial stimulation. If the people want a man they will nominate him, if they do not want him he had best let the nomination go to another.

  The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge

  MASSACHUSETTS WAS NORMALLY a Republican state, and it was customary for the GOP to permit governors to remain in office for three one-year terms. So when Coolidge administered the oath of office to Samuel McCall, he was likely looking ahead to 1919, when it would be his turn. Perhaps his time would come even sooner, given the advanced age of the new governor and his supposed senatorial ambitions.

  In fact, McCall was aiming even higher. In December 1915 he asked Frank Stearns’s opinion as to whether he should run for the presidency the following year. This may have been an oblique way of learning whether Stearns would lend an organizational and financial hand, knowing that McCall’s early departure for Washington would open the way for Coolidge in Boston. But Stearns told McCall he did not think much of the idea, and he probably mentioned it to Coolidge, as well.

  The slippery pole of this kind of politics was not for Coolidge. He would have realized the next three years would be dull. For him, or almost anyone else, the senate presidency was more desirable than the lieutenant governorship. As president of the senate, especially with a Democrat in the governor’s chair, he had wielded real power. As lieutenant governor he would fill in for McCall when he was out of state and would be a member of the Governor’s Council. That was all, except for a salary of $2,000.

  In ordinary times Coolidge would have watched and waited, but these were not ordinary times. Because of the war and President Wilson’s method of mobilizing the nation, the governors were on call for special assignments, and were asked to work with the War Industries Board to coordinate the procurement effort. Part of the reason for this was Wilson’s own experience as governor of New Jersey, but also his innate distrust of central power, even when fostering it. Whatever the reason, McCall often had to be in Washington, and on these occasions, Coolidge took over in Boston.

  Unsurprisingly, Coolidge was loyal to McCall, deferring to him on all occasions. Once, while acting-governor, he had occasion to do a favor for a constituent, and took care to remind him that McCall deserved the credit, and not he, who was merely the governor’s “temporary agent.”

  Coolidge delivered speeches around the state, which was expected of all lieutenant governors. In these he called upon government to assist in creating a fairer society. In August he said:Good government cannot be found on the bargain counter. We have seen samples of bargain counter government in the past when low tax rates were secured by increasing the bonded debt for current expenses or refusing to keep our institutions up to the standard in repairs, extensions, equipment, and accommodations. I refuse, and the Republican Party refuses, to endorse that method of sham and shoddy economy.

  In September Coolidge specifically addressed the matter of a new hospital that was being blocked by some local Democratic politicians. Hospitals and aid to the mentally troubled and feeble-minded were appropriations Coolidge had always supported. “I feel that the time has come when the people must assert themselves and show that they will tolerate no delay and no parsimony in the care of our unfortunates,” he said. Then, in what seemed an echo of his “Have Faith in Massachusetts” speech, he went on to reassert his philosophy of government:I repeat that this is not partisan. I am not criticizing individuals. I am denouncing a system. When you substitute patronage for patriotism, administration breaks down. We need more of the Office Desk and less of the Show Window in politics. Let men in office substitute the midnight oil for the limelight. Let Massachusetts return to the sound business methods which were exemplified in the East by such Democrats as Governor Gaston and Governor Douglass, and by such Republicans as Governor Robinson and Governor Crane.

  Other lieutenant governors attended to their business and professional affairs while in office, but Coolidge decided this was not for him. He had thought it all out carefully. In the summer of 1915, before the election, he invited to his office a young Northampton attorney, Ralph Hemenway, and asked him to join his practice. Hemenway said he would do so if he were made a partner, and not an associate. “Draw up the papers,” said Coolidge, which Hemenway did, providing for an equal division of the profits after the second year. Later Coolidge told Hemenway, “If I ever become governor, the business is yours.” Hemenway later revealed the papers were never signed. “They had no validity whatever—except that best validity of all by which a man’s word is as good as his bond.”

  It was always “Mr. Coolidge” and “Mr. Hemenway,” though their relationship was warm. Once, when Coolidge returned to Northampton and the law office after leaving the presidency, Hemenway was short of funds due to the closing of a local bank during the hard times of 1931. Coolidge walked into his office and placed a check for $5,000 on the desk. As he walked away, Coolidge remarked, “And as much more as you want.”

  With Hemenway installed in the Northampton office, Coolidge turned his back on the law for good. Later, when Coolidge was nominated for the vice presidency, Hemenway indicated the extent to which Coolidge had removed himself from the practice: “He could, no doubt, have made me rich by reason of his influence and position, but I can truthfully say that in those five years [that we have been partners] Mr. Coolidge has not turned over a dollar’s worth of business through political influence or pull.”

  McCall and Coolidge ran for reelection in 1916, when Senator John Weeks was Massachusetts’s favorite son contender for the presidential nomination. The Democrats nominated Frederick Mansfield for governor and Associate Judge of the First District Court Thomas P. Riley for lieutenant governor. Although he was gradually becoming more conservative in this period, Coolidge still ran what was considered a progressive campaign, especially on the social issues. In a speech at Riverside on August 28, he said:We cannot curtail the usual appropriations or the care of mothers with dependent children or the support of the poor, the insane, and the infirm. The Democratic programme of cutting the state tax, by vetoing appropriations of the utmost urgency for improvements and maintenance costs of institutions and asylums of the unfortunates of the state, cannot be the example for a Republican administration. The result has been that our institutions are deficient in resources—even in sleeping accommodations�
�and it will take years to restore them to the old-time Republican efficiency. Our party will have no part in a scheme of economy which adds to the misery of the wards of the commonwealth—the sick, the insane, and the unfortunate; those who are too weak even to protest.

  Coolidge then indicated his priorities.

  Because I know these conditions I know a Republican administration would face an increasing state tax rather than not see them remedied.

  The Republican Party lit the fire of progress in Massachusetts. It has tended it faithfully. It will not flicker now.

  Coolidge won in a landslide, by a vote of 283,000 to Riley’s 199,000. Not only did he outpoll McCall, but he received more votes than any other statewide candidate.

  In his inaugural address, McCall asked for a comprehensive health insurance program. “I am strongly of the opinion that there is no form of social insurance that is more humane, sounder in principle, and that would confer greater benefit upon large groups of our population and upon the commonwealth as a whole than health insurance.” He also asked for legislation to extend old age benefits and the abolition of capital punishment, then and now a litmus for liberalism. In all of this, as with everything else, Coolidge supported his chief.

  This was too much for Stearns, who wrote to Coolidge, “Young man, you are going to get yourself into trouble. You are backing the governor in things that you know are unwise.” Coolidge, who recognized what his responsibilities—and his limitations—were as lieutenant governor, wrote back:I apprehend that I was elected by the people of Massachusetts to do a definite job, second in the administration, a long ways behind the first. I accepted the office and my duty is perfectly clear—to back up the administration to the limit, whether I like it or do not like it. If this position should ever be so bad that I positively cannot do this, then my duty is equally clear—to keep my mouth shut. If any protests are to be made, they must be made by the rest of you.