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48th Governor of Massachusetts 30th President of the United States
Vice Presidential and Presidential campaigns
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"I do not choose to run" was a statement made by U.S. president Calvin Coolidge to the press on August 2, 1927, on his decision not to run for the 1928 presidential election. The statement was ambiguous and led to considerable debate as to the intentions of its language.
Calvin Coolidge, a member of the Republican Party, became President of the United States in 1923 after the death of Warren Harding, and won the 1924 United States presidential election for a full four-year term. [1] At his "Summer White House" in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Coolidge gave Secretary to the President Everett Sanders a piece of paper that said, "I do not choose to run for president in nineteen twenty eight". Sanders endorsed Coolidge's declaration, and the announcement was scheduled for the 9 a.m. press conference on Tuesday August 2, 1927. [2]
However, to prevent an overreaction by the stock market on the East Coast, the announcement was moved to midday. At 11:30, Coolidge cut out strips of paper with his statement on them, and at the conference, handed each reporter a strip. Without providing any further information, Coolidge remarked, "There will be nothing more from this office today." [3]
Upon Coolidge's announcement, the gathered media were stunned. The public, too, were shocked by the announcement. Many felt Coolidge could easily win a second full term, based on "Coolidge Prosperity", the booming economy, and a surplus of over $300 million. [1] [4]
As early as 1924, Coolidge had made it clear he would not run again after his 1924 campaign. He relayed this to his father after his son Calvin Jr., died. [5] After the election, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. "clearly remembered" Coolidge mentioning his desire not to run again, a conversation Coolidge also reportedly had with Frank Stearns at the same time. [6] Also, Secret Service Agent Edmund Starling, who served at the White House for thirty years, and protected five presidents, recounted[ when? ] that Coolidge decided "long ago" not to run again for office. [7]
While some close to Coolidge knew he would not run for another term, others were stunned by his announcement, including Sanders, his personal secretary. [8] Later in the day on August 2, Grace Coolidge found out about her husband's announcement from visiting senator Arthur Capper. She remarked, "Isn't that just like the man. He never gave me the slightest intimation of his intention. I had no idea." [9]
After Coolidge's announcement there was much debate as to what he meant in his choice of words. Some took the language as a definitive statement that he was not willing to be president any longer. Others thought that Coolidge was hoping to be drafted by the party as a candidate, or that he did not want to serve again but would accept a draft. [1]
Some close to the president took the view that Coolidge was looking to be drafted by the party for the 1928 election. Vice President Charles G. Dawes believed that he "ardently" wanted the nomination. [10] As for being drafted as the party's candidate, Coolidge later stated that he "was determined not to have that contingency arise." [11] During his presidency Coolidge remained silent, however. Commerce secretary Herbert Hoover, himself considering a 1928 election bid, asked Coolidge if his decision was "absolutely conclusive", and the president made no direct reply. Even one of Coolidge's closest friends, Senator William M. Butler, said of the decision, "I do not know what he wants." [12]
Had Coolidge wished, he would have been easily nominated to run again at the 1928 Republican National Convention, as party leaders wanted. Coolidge sent Sanders to tell leaders of state delegations to vote for anyone else. [1] At the convention, those close to the president said that they had no message from Coolidge for the delegates. When the Vermont delegation asked the president three times whether he would object to voting for him, Coolidge refused to answer. The delegates concluded that voting for him would imply that they doubted the president's sincerity. [13]
Others saw Coolidge's message as a desire to get back to private life. As early as 1924, Coolidge decided he would not run for the presidency a second time. The death of his son, Calvin Jr., in 1924, took a heavy toll on the president, which some say led to clinical depression. "When he died, the power and the glory of the Presidency went with him", Coolidge later wrote in his autobiography. He also noted that another term would put him in the White House longer than any other man had been there, and ten years is more time than any man should spend there. [14]
Also, Coolidge took some steps to make sure he was not drafted for the nomination. He said, "I do not approve the circulation of a petition, such as has been reported in the morning press, requesting me to run for president in 1928. I don't see that anything good could come from it. I hope it will be discontinued." He also announced in December 1927, "My statement stands. No one should be led to suppose that I have modified it. My decision will be respected." Informed that some Massachusetts Republicans were mounting a campaign to have him win their state's presidential primary, Coolidge informed the Republican state chairman "Such an action would be most embarrassing to me... I request that it not be done." [15]
While the language was open for debate, some pointed out that it was the language of a Vermont Yankee. "The Yankee language is founded on understatement and not overstatement," said publisher Charles Thompson. [16]
Coolidge had only served a little less than half of Harding's unexpired term before winning election in his own right. Some believe that Coolidge was honoring the two-term tradition set by President George Washington, even though Coolidge held the opinion that a vice president who succeeded to part of another president's term would not violate the rule by then running twice for election in his own right. [1] [17] Within the Republican party, there was talk that the "no third term tradition" could damage Coolidge's, and thus the party's, chances in the 1928 election. This led to some party members calling for him not to run for a third term (or in this case, second full term), though most scholars feel their opinion had little effect on Coolidge's reasoning. [18] Many who believed that Coolidge wanted to be reelected thought that "I do not choose to run" was a clever way for him to avoid breaking the two-term tradition by being drafted to run again. [1]
In 1927, the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution had not been ratified, and thus the "two term tradition" was not a firm limit but rather a constitutional convention. There had only been one previous instance of a former vice president winning even one election in his own right after succeeding to the Presidency, this being when Theodore Roosevelt was re-elected in 1904 after succeeding the assassinated William McKinley. However, Roosevelt had served nearly all of McKinley's second term, which may have influenced his decision not to run again in 1908, although he did run unsuccessfully in 1912 against his successor, William Howard Taft.
Ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment limited the number of times that a person can be elected president to two. As of 2024 [update] , the amendment has yet to apply to anyone succeeding to the presidency; a grandfather clause exempted Harry S. Truman when the amendment came into force, Lyndon B. Johnson served less than half of John F. Kennedy's term when he became president after Kennedy's assassination and Gerald R. Ford (who did serve more than half of Richard Nixon's second term) was defeated in his bid to win election to a full term. Moreover, both Truman and Johnson initially attempted to run for re-election to a second full term, only for both to abandon their respective runs for the presidency after each made a disappointing showing in the New Hampshire primary.
The phrase entered popular culture of the era. The tune "I Do Not Choose to Run", credited to Kenny & Dennis [19] was recorded in March 1928 by Harry Reser's jazz band for Brunswick Records. The humorous lyrics tell the story of a watch which, rather than ticking and telling time, utters Coolidge's famous phrase. [20]
A 1966 episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show is titled "I Do Not Choose to Run". [21] In the episode, Rob Petrie chooses not to run for city council.
In the 96th episode of the show Seinfeld , titled "The Race", the character Jerry says, "I choose not to run" as a playful comment alluding to Coolidge's famous quote, though in the context of the episode it is in regard to an athletic race and not a political contest. [22]
Calvin Coolidge was an American attorney and politician who served as the 30th president of the United States from 1923 to 1929. Born in Vermont, Coolidge was a Republican lawyer who climbed the ladder of Massachusetts politics, becoming the state's 48th governor. His response to the Boston police strike of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight as a man of decisive action. The next year, Coolidge was elected the country's 29th vice president and succeeded to the presidency upon President Warren G. Harding's sudden death in 1923. Elected in his own right in 1924, Coolidge gained a reputation as a small-government conservative with a taciturn personality and dry sense of humor that earned him the nickname "Silent Cal". His widespread popularity enabled him to run for a second full term, but Coolidge chose not to run again in 1928, remarking that ten years as president would be "longer than any other man has had it—too long!"
The 1920 United States presidential election was the 34th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1920. In the first election held after the end of the First World War and the first election after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, Republican Senator Warren G. Harding of Ohio defeated Democratic Governor James M. Cox of Ohio. It was also the third presidential election in which both major party candidates were registered in the same home state; the others have been in 1860, 1904, 1940, 1944, and 2016.
The 1924 United States presidential election was the 35th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 1924. In a three-way contest, incumbent Republican President Calvin Coolidge won election to a full term. Coolidge was the second vice president to ascend to the presidency and then win a full term.
The 1928 United States presidential election was the 36th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 1928. Republican former Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover defeated the Democratic nominee, Governor Al Smith of New York. After President Calvin Coolidge declined to seek reelection, Hoover emerged as his party's frontrunner. As Hoover's party opponents failed to unite around a candidate, Hoover received a large majority of the vote at the 1928 Republican National Convention. The strong state of the economy discouraged some Democrats from running, and Smith was nominated on the first ballot of the 1928 Democratic National Convention. Hoover and Smith had been widely known as potential presidential candidates long before the 1928 campaign, and both were generally regarded as outstanding leaders. Both were newcomers to the presidential race and presented in their person and record an appeal of unknown potency to the electorate. Both faced serious discontent within their respective parties' membership, and both lacked the wholehearted support of their parties' organization.
The 1932 United States presidential election was the 37th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1932. The election took place against the backdrop of the Great Depression. The incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover was defeated in a landslide by Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, the governor of New York and the vice presidential nominee of the 1920 presidential election. Roosevelt was the first Democrat in 80 years to simultaneously win an outright majority of the electoral college and popular vote, a feat last accomplished by Franklin Pierce in 1852, as well as the first Democrat in 56 years to win a majority of the popular vote, which was last achieved by Samuel J. Tilden in 1876. Roosevelt was the last sitting governor to be elected president until Bill Clinton in 1992. Hoover became the first incumbent president to lose an election to another term since William Howard Taft in 1912, and the last to do so until Gerald Ford lost 44 years later. The election marked the effective end of the Fourth Party System, which had been dominated by Republicans. It was the first time since 1916 that a Democrat was elected president.
The 1920 Republican National Convention nominated Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding for president and Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge for vice president. The convention was held in Chicago, Illinois, at the Chicago Coliseum from June 8 to June 12, 1920, with 940 delegates. Under convention rules, a majority plus one, or at least 471 of the 940 delegates, was necessary for a nomination.
The 1928 Republican National Convention was held at Convention Hall in Kansas City, Missouri, from June 12 to June 15, 1928.
The 1924 Republican National Convention was held in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Public Auditorium, from June 10 to 12.
A Shermanesque statement, also called a Sherman statement, Sherman speech, or the full Sherman, is American political jargon for a clear and direct statement by a potential candidate indicating that they will not run for a particular elected position.
The 1940 Democratic National Convention was held at the Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois from July 15 to July 18, 1940. The convention resulted in the nomination of President Franklin D. Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term. Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace from Iowa was nominated for vice president.
Party divisions of United States Congresses have played a central role on the organization and operations of both chambers of the United States Congress—the Senate and the House of Representatives—since its establishment as the bicameral legislature of the Federal government of the United States in 1789. Political parties had not been anticipated when the U.S. Constitution was drafted in 1787, nor did they exist at the time the first Senate elections and House elections occurred in 1788 and 1789. Organized political parties developed in the U.S. in the 1790s, but political factions—from which organized parties evolved—began to appear almost immediately after the 1st Congress convened. Those who supported the Washington administration were referred to as "pro-administration" and would eventually form the Federalist Party, while those in opposition joined the emerging Democratic-Republican Party.
The first inauguration of Calvin Coolidge as the 30th president of the United States was held on Friday, August 3, 1923, at the Coolidge Homestead in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, following the death of President Warren G. Harding the previous evening. The inauguration – the sixth non-scheduled, extraordinary inauguration to ever take place – marked the commencement of the first term of Calvin Coolidge 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. 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 Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C.
The 1924 United States presidential election in New York took place on November 4, 1924. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1924 United States presidential election. Voters chose 45 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.
The Man Who Knew Coolidge is a 1928 satirical novel by Sinclair Lewis. It features the return of several characters from Lewis' previous works, including George Babbitt and Elmer Gantry. Additionally, it sees a return to the familiar territory of Lewis' fictional American city of Zenith, in the state of Winnemac. Presented as six long, uninterrupted monologues by Lowell Schmaltz, a travelling salesman in office supplies, the eponymous first section was originally published in The American Mercury in 1927.
The 1924 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 4, 1924. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1924 United States presidential election. Voters chose 14 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.
The 1920 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 2, 1920. All contemporary 48 states were part of the 1920 United States presidential election. Voters chose 14 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.
Calvin Coolidge's tenure as the 30th president of the United States began on August 2, 1923, when Coolidge became president upon Warren G. Harding's death, and ended on March 4, 1929. A Republican from Massachusetts, Coolidge had been vice president for 2 years, 151 days when he succeeded to the presidency upon the sudden death of Harding. Elected to a full four–year term in 1924, Coolidge gained a reputation as a small-government conservative. Coolidge was succeeded by former Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover after the 1928 presidential election.
The 1928 United States presidential election in Washington took place on November 6, 1928 as part of the 1928 United States presidential election. Washington's voters selected seven voters to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
The presidency of Calvin Coolidge began on August 2, 1923, when Calvin Coolidge became the 30th president of the United States upon the sudden death of Warren G. Harding, and ended on March 4, 1929.
On March 31, 1968, then-incumbent US President Lyndon B. Johnson made a surprise announcement during a televised address to the nation that began around 9 p.m., declaring that he would not seek re–election for another term and was withdrawing from the 1968 United States presidential election. Johnson stated, "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."
