Presidential History

U.S. President Calvin Coolidge

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Calvin Coolidge had an appropriate birthday for a future president; he was born on the Fourth of July. As the son of a Vermont general store owner, he would shy away from strangers who came to his father’s shop. He remained distant and uncomfortable in social gatherings for the rest of his life.

Coolidge was visiting his father when he was awakened by the news of President Harding’s death. As Harding’s vice-president, he now had to lead the country. Since his father was a notary public, he performed the oath of office for his son.

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Official Presidential Portrait of Calvin Coolidge

Once president, Coolidge promoted the interests of big business. He believed “the more a man makes, the more he can pay his workmen.” Businesses were especially productive during the Coolidge administration. For the first time the middle class could afford to buy items like automobiles and washing machines.

His decisions on social issues were primarily negative; he upheld a strict immigration policy and believed the government should not help the poor. Yet after the scandals of the Harding administration, people admired his honesty. They also liked the fact that the economy was doing well.

Coolidge had many personal flaws. He was reluctant to speak at or even attend social gatherings, and when he did speak, what he said was often tactless. Fortunately for guests, his flaws were offset by the graciousness of his wife.

Though “Silent Cal” seemed like a cold fish to the outside world, Coolidge loved his family. He was devastated by his son Calvin’s death. He said “If I had not been President he would not have raised a blister on his toe…playing lawn tennis on the South grounds…which resulted in blood poisoning…When he went, the power and the glory of the Presidency went with him.”

Coolidge’s economic policies while in office would later inspire the administration of Ronald Reagan.

The Presidency of Warren Harding

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Although his presidency was marred by scandal after his death, Warren Harding was a popular president in his day. Even as a young boy Harding avoided conflict in order to please his peers. That habit caught up with him when he became president.

Before he got into politics Harding was a successful businessman who bought a bankrupt newspaper and made it profitable. His wife Florence served as his business partner. He called her “The Duchess” and feared rather than loved her. Their complex relationship pushed him into politics. His new profession allowed him to be away for long periods. It also enabled him to have affairs with other women. He had a magnetic personality and a great speaking voice.

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Official Presidential Portrait of Warren Harding

During the Republican national convention in 1920, the party could not decide on a candidate. Party leaders looked for a compromise, so they asked Harding if there was any reason they shouldn’t nominate him. Though he didn’t actually want to be president, Harding told them there was nothing in his past that would prevent him from running. In the first presidential election in which women could vote, Harding won.

Harding promised voters that his presidency would mark a return to “normalcy,” or to the days before World War I. Fortunately the country didn’t face any major crisis during his presidency.

Unlike President Wilson who always thought his opinion was the right one, Harding was indecisive. After listening to both sides of an issue he often thought that each side was just as right as the other. Even Harding admitted that he was in over his head as president. Later historians would agree with him when he remarked, “I never should have been here.” Still, Harding remained a popular president until he died of food poisoning during his third year in office.

After his death rumors about his private life and corruption in his cabinet came out. Harding had always been a womanizer, and one woman claimed he had fathered an illegitimate son. His desire to be popular had caused him to cover up rather than publicize the scandals that plagued his administration.

An illegal oil-rigging scheme led to the eventual arrest of his former secretary of the interior. It was the first time a cabinet member had been convicted of a crime. Ironically, the president who wanted to be loved by everyone became one of the country’s least respected presidents.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson

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Since I did a post on Teddy Roosevelt’s successor and friend William Howard Taft last year, I decided to skip to Taft’s successor President Wilson.

Woodrow Wilson, whose real first name was Thomas, had an impressive rise in politics. He had only been governor of New Jersey for two years when he was approached by Democrats to run for president.

In another time period voters might have thought that the former president of Princeton University was a snob. Wilson always thought he was right. When a friend told him that there were two sides to every issue, he replied, “Yes, a right side and a wrong side.” His stubbornness would lead to trouble during his second term.

In the election of 1912, however, voters thought his commitment to high ideals refreshing. It also helped that Republican support was split between Taft and third party candidate Theodore Roosevelt.

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Official Presidential Portrait of Woodrow Wilson

Wilson hoped to focus on domestic issues while president. His New Freedom programs included restraints on banks and big business as well as child labor laws. Yet in other ways he resisted change. Born a Southerner, Wilson gave cabinet positions to Southerners. He violated the rights of black workers by allowing several racist members of his cabinet to segregate their offices. Wilson was also slow to support women’s suffrage, though he eventually did so.

When World War I began in Europe, Wilson wanted to maintain peace. He was re-elected as the man who kept the country out of war. In 1917 Wilson finally decided that America needed to join its allies to “make the world safe for democracy.”

After the war ended, Wilson worked hard to ensure that the First World War would also be the last. He proposed a League of Nations in which countries would pledge to protect each other in the future. He travelled to Europe for the peace talks, making him the first president to visit that continent while in office. Wilson was not happy with the peace treaty and he still needed more support for the League.

Returning to the U.S., Wilson embarked on a speaking tour to promote the League of Nations. While on his trip Wilson suffered a stroke. Wilson became an invalid for the last year of his presidency, though he communicated with lawmakers by writing letters. Unfortunately, the Senate was still debating the League of Nations. His stroke made the stubborn president even less willing to compromise, and he refused to make any concessions on his beloved League. Though the Senate rejected the League of Nations, Wilson’s ideals live on in the United Nations.

 

Making Progress: U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt

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As a young boy, Roosevelt often struggled to breathe at night because of his asthma. Although modern doctors would be appalled, Roosevelt’s doctors suggested that the boy smoke cigars to improve his symptoms.

His family thought Roosevelt’s brother, Elliot (later father of Eleanor Roosevelt), was most likely to succeed. Elliot struggled with alcoholism, however. Theodore soon outpaced his brother both physically and mentally. He was a voracious reader and would read almost anywhere about almost any subject. Even as president he snuck a few minutes between appointments to read nature books.

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Photo of Theodore Roosevelt 1918

After McKinley’s death the presidency was thrust upon Roosevelt. He was one of the few men who genuinely enjoyed the job. While in office he expanded the authority of the president. Roosevelt believed that the president could do whatever the law didn’t specifically prohibit him from doing.

Roosevelt engaged in a number of presidential firsts. He was the first president to understand and use the press to gain public support for his programs. In fact, Roosevelt enjoyed talking with the press so much that he spoke to a reporter during his morning shave. Roosevelt was also the first president to invite an African American (Booker T. Washington) to dinner at the White House.

Roosevelt’s administration was the first to actually apply the anti-trust law signed under President Benjamin Harrison. Roosevelt believed that while successful businesses could merge, their mergers needed to be regulated. By the time he left office, Roosevelt had brought over 20 anti-trust suits.

Although he loved being president, Roosevelt was disappointed to preside over the country in a time of peace. He believed that he could not be a great president without steering the nation through a great crisis. He also regretted that he promised not to serve for a third term. That did not stop him from running for the office several years later, however.

U.S. President William McKinley

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One of many presidents who grew up in Ohio, William McKinley always believed he would be president someday. He inherited a poor economy from President Cleveland and wanted to focus on America’s domestic problems.

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Official Presidential Portrait of William McKinley

Instead, he ended up presiding over a war with Spain. Having already witnessed the Civil War, McKinley had no desire to involve the country in Cuba’s fight for independence. Once the U.S. warship Maine exploded in Havana’s harbor, however, McKinley was pressured by the public to declare war. He finally gave in.

Once committed to a war, McKinley set out to win it. He set up the first modern war room in a corner office of the White House. By the war’s end the U.S. emerged for the first time as a world power. The United States not only served as protector of Cuba, but also took Puerto Rico and Guam from the Spaniards.

A confident president McKinley also sought to take the Philippines from Spain, but the Filipinos fought back. In order to subdue them, U.S. soldiers resorted to tactics such as burning villages in which innocent people, including children, were killed. McKinley disliked the atrocity stories but believed strongly in Manifest Destiny. He saw it as America’s duty to civilize the Filipinos and convert them to Christianity.

The bullet of an assassin ended the president’s second term during a cross-country tour. That trip was the last time a president traveled without the Secret Service.

 

Frequently Forgotten President Benjamin Harrison

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In 1888 President Cleveland lost the election to Benjamin Harrison. Harrison ran on a pro-business platform and hailed from Indiana, a state that had a healthy number of electoral votes. The election was so close that without states like Indiana and New York, Harrison could not have won.

Throughout his life Benjamin Harrison wanted to be known as an individual. He did not want his presidential campaign to mention his grandfather, former President William Henry Harrison. Against his wishes his campaign supporters used references to “Tippecanoe” and his grandfather’s allegedly humble origins.

They also pointed out that the grandson had inherited his grandfather’s reputation as a fighter. During the Civil War Harrison fought in as many battles as possible. In 1864 he joined General Sherman’s Atlanta campaign.

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Official Presidential Portrait of Benjamin Harrison

Harrison’s actions as president included generous pensions for Civil War veterans and the signing of an anti-trust law. Under Harrison and the next few presidents, the law, meant to prevent the establishment of monopolies, remained mainly symbolic. Harrison did not wish to anger the businessmen who helped elect him.

The American voters were unimpressed by Harrison’s spending of millions of dollars on pensions and his pro-business stance. As a result his opponent (former President Grover Cleveland) was re-elected in 1892.

Harrison’s personality did nothing to endear him to voters either. Nicknamed “The Icebox” for his cold manner, he disliked having to deal with people outside his family. In public he often looked up at the sky so he would not have to greet others, even if he knew them! He was, however, very devoted to his wife, who died of tuberculosis during his re-election campaign. Harrison personally nursed her through her illness and didn’t care at all when he lost the election.

After his wife’s death he went home to Indiana. In his loneliness he married his wife’s niece, a circumstance that shocked his older children. The couple had a daughter, and Harrison doted on her until he died.

 

Frequently Forgotten U.S. President Grover Cleveland

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Young Grover Cleveland’s father was a minister, and he learned to be truthful from an early age. In politics Cleveland gained a reputation for reform as the mayor of Buffalo and governor of New York. He also gained weight thanks to his fondness for food and beer, though he was not a fan of the French cooking served in the White House.

During the 1884 presidential election the forthright Cleveland was accused of having an illegitimate son. Cleveland insisted on supporting the boy financially even though he may have been covering up for a married friend. (Cleveland did not marry until after he became president).

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Official Presidential Portrait of Grover Cleveland

Cleveland’s decisions as president were somewhat contradictory. On the one hand, he refused to sign a bill that would have helped struggling farmers because he believed that government should take a limited role in people’s lives.

On the other hand, he created the Interstate Commerce Commission which eliminated the authority of individual states to set rates on interstate traffic. Cleveland’s subsequent fights with big business prevented him from being re-elected in 1888.

Yet Cleveland was not ready to retire. He ran again for president four years later and won, becoming the only president elected to non-consecutive terms.

His second term was marked by health problems and the worst economic depression up to that time. Though doctors successfully removed a tumor from his mouth, Cleveland’s poor health made him increasingly stubborn. During the Pullman strike in Chicago he sent in federal troops to break it up, asserting that presidents could interfere in a labor dispute if it endangered the country’s economy.

Frequently Forgotten U.S. President Chester Arthur

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As President Garfield lay dying, his vice-president Chester Arthur tried to avoid being seen in public. Arthur was initially blamed for Garfield’s death. Of course it didn’t help that Garfield’s killer wrote to congratulate him on becoming president!

In addition, Arthur and Garfield had a strained relationship. As vice-president he opposed Garfield’s defiance of Roscoe Conkling. Conkling had helped Arthur get a post as New York’s Customs Collector during the Grant administration. While Arthur was never charged with corruption, he cheerfully allowed it. When he was fired from his post by the reform minded President Hayes, Arthur became the president of New York’s Republican committee.

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Official Presidential Portrait of Chester A. Arthur, 1885

Despite the rumors Arthur didn’t want to become president. He genuinely wept when Garfield died. The job bored him so much that he lived for fishing and vacations.

Yet Arthur was determined to clean up his image. He decided to break with his old cronies and actually expanded civil service reform. He also took an interest in preserving the country’s natural resources and was especially concerned with deforestation in the West.

One of the few things Garfield enjoyed about being president was entertaining. He sold almost anything in the White House in order to pay for redecorating projects and hired Tiffany’s to help. Once he thought the place was presentable, the president held black tie dinners every week. The dinners included up to 14 courses and various wines. He had no hostess, though. His wife died before he became president.

Arthur could not run for re-election because he had contracted Bright’s disease. He died soon after leaving office.

Frequently Forgotten President James A. Garfield

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James Garfield was raised by a single mother in Ohio (his father died when he was two years old). He managed to save enough money to get through school. After college Garfield had various jobs as a preacher, professor, and college president. Garfield was never satisfied with any of these occupations or with having just one girlfriend. He courted his future wife Lucretia for so long that she was ready to give him up, but he finally grew into a devoted family man.

When the Civil War began Garfield served as the country’s youngest major general. President Lincoln convinced him to resign his commission, however, when his home state elected him to Congress. Garfield never lost an election and served for nearly two decades.

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Official presidential portrait of James Garfield

During the 1880 Republican convention Garfield’s name was put forward, though he tried to object. In a crowded field that included former President Grant, Garfield won the nomination. With the help of powerful Republican Senator Roscoe Conkling he narrowly won the presidency, too.

Ironically, Garfield and Conkling were soon pitted against each other in an argument over federal appointments. Though Garfield had nominated some of Conkling’s friends for other positions, he appointed one of Conkling’s rivals to the New York Customs House.

Garfield surprised Conkling and almost everyone else when he refused to back down. “This…will settle the question whether the President is registering clerk of the Senate or the Executive of the United States,” he said. It seemed that the country had finally found a strong chief executive.

Only a few month into his presidency, a young man who had unsuccessfully sought a position in the government shot Garfield. Garfield lingered for months. An early air conditioning unit was installed in the White House to keep Garfield cool in the summer. Alexander Graham Bell even tried to find the location of the bullet, which remained inside the president, with a new electrical invention. After being moved to the Jersey shore, however, Garfield died.