620801
Calvin Coolidge
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John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., 1872–1933. 30th President of the United States, 1923-1929. Engraved White House vignette signed Calvin Coolidge.
This 6½" x 4" engraving shows the south portico of the White House from the east. It has an exceptional 3 1/2" signature by Coolidge. It shows a lady and a small girl in Victorian garb walking in front of the East Wing colonnade. The Oval Office, which was built in 1909, is not visible in the West Wing, since Coolidge was president before it was moved to the southeast corner of the West Wing in 1934. This, then, is a nice piece of history.
Coolidge succeeded to the presidency upon President Warren G. Harding's death. He was visiting his family home in Vermont, which had no electricity or telephone, when he learned that Harding had died. His father, a notary public, administered the oath of office by kerosene lamp at 2:47 a.m. on August 3, 1923.
Walter Lippman wrote that Coolidge’s political genius lay in his talent for effectively doing nothing. “This active inactivity suits the mood and certain of the needs of the country admirably,” Lippman said. “It suits all the business interests which want to be let alone. . . . And it suits all those who have become convinced that government in this country has become dangerously complicated and top-heavy.”
The Coolidge years were a time of great national prosperity—so much so that the period became known as the “Roaring Twenties." “The business of America,” Coolidge said, ”is business." In 1924, riding the growing wave of economic boom, Coolidge was elected President in his own right with more than 54% of the popular vote. In his inaugural address, he asserted that the country had achieved “a state of contentment seldom before seen,” and he pledged to maintain the status quo.
The taciturn Coolidge earned the nickname “Silent Cal" for his frugality with words. His wife, Grace, once recounted that a woman sitting next to Coolidge at a White House dinner told him that she had bet that she could get at least three words of conversation from him. Without looking at her, he quietly retorted, “You lose." Coolidge had such a reputation as a man of few words that upon hearing the news that Coolidge had died, popular wit Dorothy Parker quipped, ”How can they tell?”
Toward the end of his term, Coolidge announced cryptically: “I do not choose to run for president in 1928." Historians have speculated whether Coolidge really wanted another term as President but simply would not say so or whether he wanted to retire. Regardless, the Republicans nominated Herbert Hoover, who won easily but within months suffered the blow of the Great Depression when the economic boom ended with the stock market crash in 1929.
This engraving has some dampstaining at the upper right. The stain is well away from the signature and does not affect it. It barely touches the vignette. We have priced it accordingly. In our experience, Coolidge's signed White House engravings are less common than his signed The White House cards, so this is a good opportunity to acquire an example of one of these at a good price.
Unframed.
Click here to see more Coolidge and other items on the Presidents page.
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