COOLIDGE INFORMED OF DEATH OF HARDING, FATHER GIVES SON OATH
Plymouth Notch, Vermont (JFK+50) In the early morning hours of August 3, 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge, visiting his family home here at Plymouth Notch, was awakened by a knock on his bedroom door. The Vice President's father, John Coolidge, Sr.*, had some very bad news. President Warren G. Harding was dead.
A special telephone line was set up so that the new president could speak with Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes. Hughes told Coolidge that the swearing-in ceremony must be witnessed by a notary. Calvin's father, a notary public, would do the job. Amity Shlaes writes...
"By kerosene lamplight, before a small group that included his wife and Porter Dale**, a congressman...a new United States president was sworn in by his father."
The brief ceremony was performed at 2:30 a.m. local time.
The new president appeared on the front porch of his home at 7:20 a.m. prepared for travel. He first paid a visit to his mother's grave, and then took the regularly scheduled 9:35 train out of town and into history.
*John Calvin Coolidge, Sr. (1845-1926) was born in Windsor County, Vermont. He became a farmer, teacher & store owner. JCC served in the Vermont House of Representatives 1872-1878 & State Senate 1910-1912. He lived to see his son, Calvin, win election to the presidency in his own right in 1924 but died before that term ended.
**Porter Hinman Dale (1867-1933) was born in Island Pond, Vermont. He was admitted to the bar in 1896 & served in the Vermont State Senate, the US House of Representatives (1915-1923) & the US Senate (1923-1933).
SOURCES
"Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), American President, Miller Center, www.millercenter.org/
"Coolidge," by Amity Shlaes, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2013.
Plymouth Notch, Vermont (JFK+50) In the early morning hours of August 3, 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge, visiting his family home here at Plymouth Notch, was awakened by a knock on his bedroom door. The Vice President's father, John Coolidge, Sr.*, had some very bad news. President Warren G. Harding was dead.
A special telephone line was set up so that the new president could speak with Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes. Hughes told Coolidge that the swearing-in ceremony must be witnessed by a notary. Calvin's father, a notary public, would do the job. Amity Shlaes writes...
"By kerosene lamplight, before a small group that included his wife and Porter Dale**, a congressman...a new United States president was sworn in by his father."
The brief ceremony was performed at 2:30 a.m. local time.
The new president appeared on the front porch of his home at 7:20 a.m. prepared for travel. He first paid a visit to his mother's grave, and then took the regularly scheduled 9:35 train out of town and into history.
*John Calvin Coolidge, Sr. (1845-1926) was born in Windsor County, Vermont. He became a farmer, teacher & store owner. JCC served in the Vermont House of Representatives 1872-1878 & State Senate 1910-1912. He lived to see his son, Calvin, win election to the presidency in his own right in 1924 but died before that term ended.
**Porter Hinman Dale (1867-1933) was born in Island Pond, Vermont. He was admitted to the bar in 1896 & served in the Vermont State Senate, the US House of Representatives (1915-1923) & the US Senate (1923-1933).
SOURCES
"Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933), American President, Miller Center, www.millercenter.org/
"Coolidge," by Amity Shlaes, Harper Collins Publishers, New York, 2013.
Calvin Coolidge
Sworn in by John Coolidge
Portrait by Arthur I. Keller
