The Coolidge effect

From the editor Calvin Coolidge was our nation's 30th president, serving from 1923 to 1929. "Silent Cal" as he was often called, was our nation's only president to be born on July 4. He was also a native Vermonter. Back in the early 1990s, I had the distinct honor of spending several hours interviewing the late President's son, John Coolidge, at the Coolidge family house in Plymouth Notch, Vt., for Champlain College's alumni magazine. The Burlington-based college had acquired the home of First Lady Grace Goodhue Coolidge as a campus addition. The Goodhue House is located on Maple Street in Burlington and an historical marker commemorates Grace's first home. President Coolidge's son John was nearly blind when I met him, but his disability didn't prevent him from giving me his undivided attention. He was a gracious man and appeared to be genuinely happy to talk about his father and mother, as well as about his life growing up at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Sadly, less than 10 years after I met John Coolidge, he died at the age of 93; he is missed and will be remembered for a successful career in business as well as for a remarkable memory, including the famous Coolidge family wit. John told me several wonderful jokes and stories about the President and First Lady Grace Goodhue Coolidge, as well as about his childhood in the White House. Just before we parted, John revealed a special story to me—although I later learned it had been told to many others over the years: "Of course my father was a big-hearted man, but it is also true that he rarely displayed his range of emotions, like most men of the time," he said. "In 1924, when my brother Calvin died, and his casket was carried from the White House, my father wept openly and freely; he was seen by everyone. It was clear that the tragedy had affected him—and our entire family—very deeply." Our 30th President not only respected America's founding traditions, but he also showed personal humility, fiscal responsibility, and practical leadership skills while in the White House. All the time he lived in the White House, Coolidge managed to reveal—like an old fashioned barber producing a well-honed straight razor—a sly, rascally, and sometimes deeply cutting sense of humor (not unlike what I consider to be his next best Vermont competitor in the intellectual-wit department, former Gov. Jim Douglas). The late endocrinologist Frank A. Beach—who named the Coolidge Effect in biology after the 30th President— liked to tell this joke about Coolidge. The story, probably apocryphal, inspired the biological term used to describe mating behavior among mammal species. According to Beach, "The President and Mrs. Coolidge were being shown—separately—around an experimental government farm. When the First Lady came to the chicken yard she noticed that a rooster was mating very frequently. She asked the attendant how often that happened and was told, 'Dozens of times each day.' Mrs. Coolidge said, 'Tell that to the President when he comes by.' Upon being told, the President asked, 'Same hen every time?' The reply was, 'Oh, no, Mr. President, a different hen every time.' To which Coolidge replied, 'Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge.'" The Vermont Eagle

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The Coolidge effect

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