March 4, 1925: The Inauguration of Calvin Coolidge

March 4, 1925, 100 years ago: Calvin Coolidge, who became the 30th President of the United States upon the death of Warren Harding in 1923, and won a full term of his own in 1924, is sworn in as President. Charles G. Dawes, a former U.S. Ambassador to Britain, is sworn in as Vice President.

A 52-year-old native of Plymouth Notch, Vermont, and Governor of Massachusetts when he was elected Vice President in 1920, he is sworn in on the West Front of the Capitol Building, by the Chief Justice, himself a former President, William Howard Taft.

This was the 1st time that a former President swore in an incoming President. In spite of this, Taft goofed on the Oath of Office: Instead of asking Coolidge to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States," it came out, "protect, preserve and defend." Four years later, for Herbert Hoover, Taft goofed again, making it "preserve, and maintain, and defend…"

His reputation as "Silent Cal" led to a story that two women at a White House party made a bet, and one walked up to Coolidge and said, "I made a bet with my friend that I could get you to say at least three words to me," and Coolidge said, "You lose." Belying this reputation, this speech was, and remains, the 6th-longest Inaugural Address of any President. His Inaugural Address is the 1st to be broadcast on radio. Unfortunately, no sound recording of the Address survives.

The Address is not especially memorable. He closes by saying, "America seeks no earthly empire built on blood and force. No ambition, no temptation, lures her to thought of foreign dominions. The legions which she sends forth are armed, not with the sword, but with the cross. The higher state to which she seeks the allegiance of all mankind is not of human, but of divine origin. She cherishes no purpose save to merit the favor of Almighty God."

The theme of his 1924 election campaign was "Keep Cool with Coolidge"; alternately, "Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge." The scandals of the late President Harding were forgotten: Coolidge was a model of propriety. And the country enjoyed "Coolidge Prosperity," and enjoyed an isolationist foreign policy: There were no international entanglements during his time in office.

On vacation in the Summer of 1927, he told the press, "I do not choose to run for President in 1928." Maybe he saw the writing on the wall, that an economic crash was coming. Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce under Harding and Coolidge, was elected, and was left holding the bag for the Crash of 1929. Coolidge escaped blame for the Great Depression.

He died on January 5, 1933, 2 months before his 2nd full term, had he sought it and won it, would have ended. He remains the modern model for a boring President: When told he had died, theater critic Dorothy Parker said, "How can you tell?"