Grace Coolidge was the wife of Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States. She served as First Lady from 1923 to 1929.
Early Life
Grace Anna Goodhue was born on January 3, 1879, in Burlington, Vermont. She was the only child of Andrew and Lemira Goodhue. After graduating high school, Grace attended the University of Vermont, where she helped found the Vermont chapter of the Pi Beta Phi sorority. After graduating in 1902, she became a teacher at the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Marriage to Calvin Coolidge
While working in Northampton, Grace met Calvin Coolidge, a successful young attorney. Although Grace’s mother did not approve of the union, they married in a simple ceremony at her parents’ house in Burlington, Vermont, on October 4, 1905. The couple went on to have two sons, John (1906–2000) and Calvin (1908–1924). Calvin tragically died at the age of 16, while his father was serving as President.
When Calvin Coolidge was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1919, Grace stayed in Northampton with their children. She raised the family, while Calvin pursued his political ambitions. The family moved to Washington, D.C. in 1921, when Calvin Coolidge was elected Vice President.
First Lady of the United States
Calvin Coolidge became President upon the death of President Warren G, Harding on August 2, 1923. Grace Coolidge’s ascension from Second Lady to First Lady was smooth, as she was already well-known and widely respected in Washington.
Grace Coolidge was the first of the First Ladies to hold a four-year college degree. Nonetheless, she fully embraced the more submissive role of social host and official White House greeter. “This was I and yet not I, this was the wife of the President of the United States and she took precedence over me; my personal likes and dislikes must be subordinated to the consideration of those things which were required of her,” she wrote in her autobiography.
Grace Coolidge was extremely popular as First Lady. In recognition of her “fine personal influence exerted as First Lady of the Land,” she received a gold medal from the National Institute of Social Sciences. The country’s affection lasted after she left the White House. In 1931, she was voted one of the country’s 12 greatest living women.
Later Life
Calvin Coolidge decided not to run for reelection, the couple returned to Northampton, Massachusetts, where they purchased a large home known as The Beeches. Calvin Coolidge died on January 5, 1933, after suffering a heart attack.
Following her husband’s death, Grace continued her charity work on behalf of the Red Cross, served on the board of the Clarke School, and spent time with her children and grandchildren. She also experienced first airplane ride and her first trip to Europe. Grace Coolidge died on July 8, 1957, at the age of 78. She is buried alongside her husband in Plymouth, Vermont.
