Calvin Coolidge

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. (1872-1933) was a politician in the Democratic Party in the early twentieth century, which includes the governorship of Massachusetts, and election to the presidency. He holds the distinction of being the only man elected President of the United States never to be inaugerated.

A veteran of the Great War, Coolidge rose to prominence during his tenure as governor of Massachusetts during the 1920s. In 1928, he was the Democratic Party's nominee for president. However, as United States had been immensely prosperous under the administration of the Socialist President Upton Sinclair, Coolidge was readily portrayed as being regressive. Despite Coolidge's promises to keep the Confederate States in check, his lack of accomplishment outside of Massachusetts, and his lack of charisma worked against him. Although he carried much of New England, Kansas, and the former C.S. state of Houston, he was defeated by the incumbent vice-president, Socialist Hosea Blackford. When Coolidge called Blackford to concede, however, he expressed his belief that the bull market would not last, and that Blackford would face a difficult presidency when it finally crashed.

History proved Coolidge correct. The stock market crash came a year into Blackford's term. Blackford struggled unsuccessfully with the resulting depression, but the American people's faith in him and his party quickly eroded. Further sinking Blackford's presidency was the Pacific War with Japan, which broke out in 1932, just before elections.

Against this backdrop, the Democrats nominated Coolidge as their candidate for a second time in 1932. Coolidge's platform of discontinuing Blackford's costly and ineffective economic programs and a vigorous prosecution of the Pacific War handily won him and his running mate Herbert Hoover the election. Unfortunately, Coolidge did not live to take office. In early 1933, President-elect Coolidge suffered a stroke while shaving and died. Coolidge's term was served by Hoover.