The first inauguration of Calvin Coolidge as the 30th

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

was held on Friday, August 3, 1923, at the

Coolidge Homestead The Coolidge Homestead, also known as Calvin Coolidge Homestead District or President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site, was the childhood home of the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge and the place where he took the presiden ...

in Plymouth Notch,

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, following the death of President

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...

the previous evening. The

inauguration In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugu ...

– the sixth non-scheduled, extraordinary inauguration to ever take place – marked the commencement of the first term (a partial term of ) of

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer ...

as president. The presidential oath of office was administered to the new president by his father, John Calvin Coolidge Sr., who was a Vermont notary public and

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

. On Tuesday, August 21, 1923, President Coolidge repeated the oath before Justice Adolph A. Hoehling Jr. of the Court of the District of Columbia at the

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Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Midnight, August 2–3, 1923

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

Coolidge was visiting his family homestead in Vermont, which did not have

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or a

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, when he received word by messenger of Harding's death. Fuess, Claude Moore, "Calvin Coolidge: The Man from Vermont," Little, Brown, 1940, 308–309 As the new president, Coolidge intended to take the oath of office and greet reporters who had assembled outside. He dressed in an upstairs bedroom, said a

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified a ...

, and came downstairs. In front of a small group of observers, including Coolidge's wife

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and

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Porter H. Dale, his father, John Calvin Coolidge Sr., a Vermont notary public and

, administered the

oath of office An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before assuming the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations. Such ...

. The swearing in took place in John Coolidge's family parlor by the light of a

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lamp at 2:47 a.m. on August 3, 1923; President Coolidge then went back to bed. Dale was campaigning for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

when he heard of Harding's death. He traveled to John Coolidge's home with reporter Joe Fountain, Herbert P. Thompson, the commander of Springfield's

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Post, and labor union official L. L. Lane. Dale had intended to ensure that Calvin Coolidge was informed that Harding had died, and to offer any assistance he could provide. As a result, Fountain was the only reporter present for the oath-taking. By most accounts, it was Dale who suggested persistently that Coolidge be sworn in immediately to ensure continuity in the presidency. Dale later wrote an account of this event which was published as a magazine article. The ceremony was recreated for photographers the following morning. The site is now a state park.

Albert W. Harvey Albert W. Harvey (March 10, 1879 – January 3, 1956) was a Vermont businessman and government official. He served as Vermont’s U.S. Marshal from 1922 to 1935. Early life Albert Walter Harvey was born in Sutton, New Hampshire on March 10, 187 ...

, the

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for the District of Vermont, arrived in Plymouth about three hours after Coolidge was sworn in. Swiftly deputizing several local residents, he took the initiative to provide a bodyguard detail for Coolidge. The guards remained with Coolidge until

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agents from

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took over the duty after they caught up to his train in

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while he was returning to

The second oath

Coolidge returned to Washington the next day, and Justice Adolph A. Hoehling Jr. of the Court of the District of Columbia administered the oath a second time, on August 21, 1923, as there was a question about whether a state official had the authority to administer the federal presidential oath. The

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requires the president to take an oath at the beginning of his term, but it does not identify the person or officer who is to administer the oath.U.S. Const. art. II, s. 1 It is traditional for the Chief Justice of the United States to administer the oath, but that is not a constitutional requirement. When

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was sworn in on April 30, 1789, neither the

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nor any other part of the federal judiciary had been created. The oath was administered by Robert Livingston, a New York state judicial officer. Hoehling kept the second swearing-in a secret until confirming Harry M. Daugherty's revelation of it in 1932. When Hoehling confirmed Daugherty's story, he indicated that Daugherty, then serving as

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

, asked him to administer the oath at the

. According to Hoehling, he did not question Daugherty's reason for requesting a second oath-taking, but assumed it was to resolve any doubt about whether the first swearing-in was valid (it was), since it had been administered by a state official.

References

External links

Calvin Coolidge Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coolidge, Calvin 1923 in American politics Inauguration 1

Inauguration In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugu ...

United States presidential inaugurations 1923 in Vermont August 1923 events History of Vermont

Midnight, August 2–3, 1923

The second oath

See also

References

External links