Birthdays: Of Puritans and Presidents

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)

Novelist, short story writer, public servant

Born to the name Hathorne, Nathaniel Hawthorne added the “w” to his name in college to put some distance between himself and his Puritan ancestors, whose numbers included the only judge not to repent of his role in the Salem Witch Trials.

En route to enrolling at Bowdoin College, Hawthorne met, and befriended, another student, Franklin Pierce; the two remained close for over forty years. Moving to Boston after college, Hawthorne began publishing short stories and edited a magazine in the 1830s; his political connections got him a sinecure in the Customs House. Hawthorne married into the Transcendentalist Movement and, though he never cared much for it, had a happy marriage with his rather reclusive wife, and enjoyed the literary circle- Thoreau, Emerson, Melville- into which he fell. Moby-Dick is dedicated to Hawthorne.

With the publication of The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne’s fame- and earning power- was assured. His works in the 1850s sold well, and his themes- sin, intergenerational guilt, and retribution- cemented the Puritan image of grim, humorless rectitude verging on religious mania.

Hawthorne wrote the campaign biography for Franklin Pierce’s successful presidential campaign bid in 1856; Pierce rewarded him with the consulship at Liverpool, a lucrative and prestigious post. After extended travels in Europe, the Hawthornes returned to America in 1860; his writing tailed off as ill health plagued him, and, seeking a rest cure in New Hampshire with ex-President Pierce, Hawthorne died in his sleep in May, 1864.

John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. (1872-1933)

Politician, 30th President of the United States (1923-1929)

Amherst-educated, the son of a well-to-do Vermont farmer, businessman and state legislator, Calvin Coolidge combined rectitude, taciturnity, and the principle of staying on the move to go from Northampton, Massachusetts city council member to the Presidency in just 22 years. Every couple of years, starting in 1898, Coolidge traded up an office: city council; city attorney; clerk of court; state representative; mayor; state senator; senate president; lieutenant governor, governor. His vigorous suppression of a 1919 Boston police strike vaulted him to national prominence, and election to the vice presidency in 1920 (Henry Bemis Books has a copy of Coolidge’s speeches, Have Faith In Massachusetts, on sale).

When President Harding died suddenly in 1923, Coolidge was awakened by his father whose home he was visiting. The Vice President dressed, said a prayer, went downstairs, and took the oath of office from his father, a justice of thepeace. Then he went back to bed.

Coolidge’s presidency was marked by a post-war economic boom fueled by Wall Street and real estate speculation. His economic policies were minimalist; there seemed to be no area of government action in which Coolidge could not envision doing less, or nothing at all. For his views, Coolidge came back into vogue as the favorite predecessor of President Reagan; more recent devotees have included Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin.

Restoring a sense of honor to the office as the Harding scandals spilled out, Coolidge won the 1924 election by the largest margin ever; much of the joy of the achievement was tempered by the sudden death of his younger son earlier that summer.

Famous for not saying much, Coolidge gave over 500 press conferences, and embraced the new media of radio and talking motion pictures. He declined to seek a full second term of his own in 1928, returned to Northampton, wrote his memoirs, and died, just short of four years after leaving office. The New Yorker’s Dorothy Parker, hearing news, asked, “How could they tell?”

Coolidge is the only American president born on the Fourth of July.

Related sites:

The Coolidge Foundation