How Depression Impacted a Presidency

“We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.” -President Calvin Coolidge 

Calvin Coolidge is perhaps known best for his stoic, cool (pun intended) nature. He didn’t smile a lot, wasn’t super social, and he didn’t even say very much. An old story goes that a woman who was seated next to him at a state dinner said “Mr. President, I bet a friend that I could get you to say more than two words tonight.” He looked at her and said “You lose.”

Historians have long viewed him as getting nothing done and having no drive. It turns out, though, that there may have been a logical reason for it.

Early Years

Calvin Coolidge was born in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. His growing up years were rough. His mother passed away at age 12. His father told him he wasn’t allowed to cry. Several years later, his sister and best friend, also passed away. Calvin was there holding her hand as she died. Again, he was told to handle it like a man. These tragic occurrences of suppressing his emotions would come back to haunt him later in life.

Political Background

Calvin Coolidge was active in local Republican politics from a young age. He was a lawyer who worked his way up the ranks for Massachusetts state politics, including city council, city solicitor, clerk of courts, state legislator, mayor, and then to the state senate. He eventually became the governor. He wasn’t governor for long before being recruited as Warren G. Harding’s vice president.

The only election he ever lost was for a position on the school board. When he found out his neighbors had voted against him because he didn’t have children in the school, he chastised them for not giving him more time to have children!

The Calvin Coolidge Administration (1923-1929)

When Calvin Coolidge got word that President Warren G. Harding had passed away, he was up in rural Vermont with his father. His father also happened to be a justice of the peace, so was able to swear his son in as president over the family Bible. So not only was he sworn in by his father, but Calvin Coolidge also became the first president to be sworn in by a former president (Supreme Court Justice Howard Taft) at the start of his next full-term. Though he was president for six years, he only ran once. He decided not to run for his own second term– we’ll explain why later. His commerce secretary, Herbert Hoover, ran and won instead.

When he first took over for President Harding, Coolidge was praised by the press for his intelligence and proactivity. He held regular press conferences, set up dinners with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, and even invited governors to the White House to discuss various issues. In addition, he also took it upon himself to clean up after President Harding’s many scandals. He also helped restore good relations with Mexico (after the 1914 invasion) and sent humanitarian relief to Japan following an earthquake that killed over 130,000.

Coolidge gave a super ambitious first State of the Union address to Congress, wowing them with his ambition. Within his first year, he had crossed a huge chunk of his agenda off his list already. He had reformed the Foreign Service program, expanded health benefits for veterans, and cut taxes. Coolidge exercised extreme fiscal restraint while president. He used his veto power to deny government employees pay raises and wanted to keep government as small as possible and businesses booming.

In 1924, he was overwhelmingly voted back into office, because he was doing such a great job in the eyes of voters. Within days of the start of his first term, however, everything changed.

 

Tragedy Strikes

On June 30, 1924, the Coolidge’s sons (ages 18 and 16 at the time) went out to play tennis on the White House lawn. Their youngest son Calvin, Jr. was his father’s favorite. He resembled his mother (who had passed away when Calvin was a boy), so he developed a strong bond with him. As the boys played tennis, Calvin, Jr. developed a blister on his toe (most likely from not wearing socks while playing) and ignored it. Within a day, Calvin became quite ill and bedridden as a blood infection set in. Doctors were summoned and found red streaks running up his legs.

Today we know the infection as a Staph infection. We would treat it with antibiotics like Penicillin and not get worked up over it at all. Back then, it was common and there was little anyone could do. The discovery of Penicillin was still four years away–and the discovery of how to use it was even further away. Multiple doctors treated Calvin, Jr. and he was sent to Walter Reed Medical Center–one of the best hospitals of the time–but less than a week later he was dead.

The First Lady, Grace Coolidge, took a few months to mourn but eventually went back to her duties. She was the first First Lady to do so after suffering such a family loss. The president, however, was never quite the same and neither was his presidency.

Calvin Coolidge’s Depression

President Coolidge’s son’s death sent him into a dark depression. It wasn’t the first time he had suffered a tragic loss. At age 12, his mother passed away of tuberculosis. Coolidge later said, “The greatest grief that can come to a boy came to me. Life was never to seem the same again.”  Five years later, his sister, and only sibling, who he had a super close relationship with, also passed away. Calvin was right there by her side. How did he deal with it? He learned to suppress his emotions, which left him more susceptible to severe clinical depression after his son’s death.

Apparently, when Coolidge took office, he was pretty prideful about his success. Observers say he would walk around the White House randomly touching certain objects and smiling to himself. When his son died, he blamed himself, thinking it was a punishment for his pride. He even wrote in his autobiography after his son died, “I do not know why such a price was exacted for occupying the White House.”

Not surprisingly, but sadly, following his son’s death, major clinical depression sunk in. As one article admits, during the next four years of his presidency, President Coolidge showed all ten signs of major depressing, as listed by the American Psychiatric Association. In fact, we think those symptoms are worth posting here:

“If, for a period of two weeks or more, your mood is depressed and you take little pleasure in your activities, and you notice any four of the following symptoms—loss of appetite or weight; insomnia or hypersomnia; agitation or inability to sit still; slowed speech or reluctance to speak at all; decreased energy; feelings of worthlessness or guilt; difficulty in thinking, concentrating, or deciding; and recurrent thoughts of death—then you are suffering a “Major Depressive Episode” which, untreated, can lead to death. Thirty-thousand Americans commit suicide every year, and either biological or event-based psychological depression is present in nearly every case. A sufferer from major depression denying himself medicine that can alleviate his symptoms in order to “tough it out” is like a diabetic denying himself insulin to improve his moral character. It is that absurd—and tragic.”

Depression was little understood back then, so no one knew what to do. No one even realized it was depression until years later. Then it all made sense. The bizarre behavior, the around the clock sleeping, etc. The depression caused some unexpected behavior in the president. Though he’d always loved sleeping, he started sleeping even more–sometimes nearly 15 hours a day, and often only working four hours a day.

President Coolidge’s behavior toward his staff also became increasingly bizarre and erratic. He once tried to catch a bodyguard’s finger with a fishhook purely for fun. Often when leaving for walks, he would oddly press the White House’s buzzer that he was returning, sending the entire staff into a state of panic. Little things sent him into a rage, often screaming and staff or even his wife. After being bitten by a mosquito, it’s said he went off on his body guard for not killing it first. He also became increasingly bitter and short-tempered at his remaining son. He complained constantly of being tired, of feeling old, and sick. He ate all the time, making himself sick in the process. He thought about death often. When he spoke to his father, he often said they’d both be reunited with dead family members, including Calvin, Jr., soon.

In the eyes of citizens across the country was that when Calvin Coolidge lost his son, the nation lost a president. President Coolidge basically became incapacitated. He left all decisions to his Cabinet (basically telling them if they didn’t make decisions without him, he’d replace them) and to Congress. He quit giving in person State of the Union addresses to Congress and instead sent them a letter. His press conferences were few and far between and when he did hold them, he was uninformed, confused, and gave misinformation. His mind wasn’t there and his heart was no longer in it.

Not surprisingly, when it came time to run for a second term, he chose to back down.

 

The First Lady

Grace Coolidge was the first First Lady to earn a four year college degree. She studied lip reading at a specialized children’s hearing and speech school and taught deaf children to lip read. Calvin and she had two sons.

As First Lady, she tried to stay out of her husband’s business. Instead, she volunteered her time at the Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations. Once her husband had passed away, she re-devoted her time to working with deaf children once again. During her time as First Lady, she invited many people with disabilities to visit the White House. One of these visitors was Helen Keller. She had the privilege of meeting every president from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson. During the Coolidge Administration, she visited to let them know she appreciated the work they were doing on behalf of the deaf and blind.

“They say you are cold,” Helen Keller told President Calvin Coolidge, who was known for his quiet nature, “but you are not. You are a dear President.” She then placed her hand on his mouth to read his response.” -The White House Historical Association

Grace continued the Harding’s tradition of garden parties and Easter Egg Rolls where she proudly showed off her pet raccoon Rebecca (pictured above).

When her husband’s depression kicked in, Grace stepped it up. The Coolidges became the first presidential family to light a national Christmas tree. Grace also oversaw major White House renovations. She was disappointed when she first arrived at the White House to not find historical items from past White House occupants. So she kind of set up a search party for historical furniture–a smaller scale version of what First Lady Jackie Kennedy would do in the future.

Grace was a huge baseball fan. She once said “You may not give a hoot for baseball, but to me it is my very life.” Grace was such a fan that the American League used to send her season tickets in a gold trimmed purse. In fact, she even took it upon herself to practice with and coach her boys.

Why Calvin Coolidge Is Cool

Calvin Coolidge once claimed his only hobby was running for office, but he was also quite the fisherman. His main form of exercise, however, was a bit out of the ordinary. He had a mechanical horse installed inside his White House bedroom. Though he has the reputation for being pretty stoic, oddly enough, he liked to dress up with elaborate costumes and props for photo shoots.

In addition, we live in a time where most politicians cash in on their time in office by charging hefty speaking fees, appearances, etc. However, Calvin Coolidge and his family lived solely off his public service salary, which was often meager. Up until his presidency, he and his family lived in a small, very modest, rented duplex. In his mind, his public service shouldn’t elevate him–he was always just one of the people.

For Kids

Mental health should be taken seriously. In fact, our youth (who have been termed the “iGeneration”) have encountered a mental health crisis with the addition of smart phones to their lives. Mental health issues, including depression, has skyrocketed. Talk to your kids about the signs of depression and that it’s nothing to be ashamed of, but something to be discussed and treated when necessary.

Back then, depression wasn’t a common thing to diagnose and treat. But if the same resources we have now were available back then and President Coolidge had been treated for his depression, what do you think he might have accomplished? What could have changed in his presidency and in his life?

Additional Reading

Isn’t it great when we actually know something about our former presidents? What makes it even better is when we can learn from them by their own words. Calvin Coolidge wrote his own autobiography. You can find it here.