Home Massachusetts Calvin Coolidge – Silent Cal or Cheap Cal?

Calvin Coolidge – Silent Cal or Cheap Cal?

Actually, both

by
14 comments

Calvin Coolidge — Vermont native, Massachusetts governor, president of the United States — may have been misnamed. He was known as a stoic man of few words. Silent Cal, they called him. A better name might have been Frugal Cal.

Calvin Coolidge meeting with labor activist Mother Jones

Calvin Coolidge meeting with labor activist Mother Jones

Son of a farm and store-keeping family, Coolidge grew up working hard for every dollar he had. So maybe that’s why he didn’t like to waste money – whether it was his own or the people’s.

Connecticut Gov. Wilbur Cross described Coolidge as a man “who never let loose a nickel unless he had to.” And on this point, he was indisputably correct. He cut taxes four times as president.

As lieutenant governor in Massachusetts, he stayed at a one-room, dollar-a-day rooming house in Boston, ignoring the Statehouse crowd that urged him to loosen his purse strings. Home was half of a duplex in Northampton, Mass.

Then, when elected vice president, he and his wife and two sons moved into the Willard Hotel. Coolidge tried to eat out as much as possible — as someone’s guest — to save on meal costs.

As president, he had protracted battles with the White House housekeeper over the costs of dinners. Once he famously insisted that six hams for 60 guests were too many. And even pennies were important to the president.

Official White House portrait of Calvin Coolidge

Calvin Coolidge, Lousy Tipper

He did have a sense of humor. Coolidge loved to play practical jokes. One of his favorite pranks was to pretend he found a bug in his food. When the butler turned to investigate, he’d say to his wife, Grace, “Mama, I thought butlers weren’t supposed to eavesdrop.”

In her book, My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House, White House maid and seamstress Lillian Parks Rogers recalled how Coolidge dispatched a servant to pick up newspapers. He then expected his change on the servant’s return.

“If they thought it was a tip, they would soon find out differently, because the President would go around saying, ‘Somebody owes me seven cents.’ And he meant it.”

No one ever defeated Calvin Coolidge in an election. Perhaps this was part of the reason.

*  *  *

 

Learn what life was like in the White House for New England’s six presidents. Click here to order your copy today.

 

 

 

 

This story was updated in 2025. 

14 comments

John B. Nute June 8, 2014 - 8:59 pm

Think of how things might be now if we had someone like coolidge at the reins

Jack May 16, 2018 - 10:20 pm

Both parties would LOATHE this man.

John B. Nute June 8, 2014 - 8:59 pm

Think of how things might be now if we had someone like coolidge at the reins

Carolyn D'Annolfo June 8, 2014 - 9:08 pm

@ John – bet we wouldn’t hv the debt!

Carolyn D'Annolfo June 8, 2014 - 9:08 pm

@ John – bet we wouldn’t hv the debt!

Sindy Scott Pierce June 8, 2014 - 11:57 pm

We need another “penny pincher”, in the White House…ASAP!

Sue Saykaly-Rozmus June 9, 2014 - 4:23 am

We could use his thinking now.

Janice Delaney Stearns June 9, 2014 - 11:52 am

in congress!!

Ida May Fuller Gets the First Social Security Check - New England Historical Society January 31, 2015 - 5:34 pm

[…] Ida May Fuller attended the Black River Academy in Rutland, Vt., where she was three years behind Calvin Coolidge. She worked for a while as a schoolteacher and in 1905 became a legal […]

The Mordant Humor of Calvin Coolidge - New England Historical Society August 10, 2015 - 8:45 am

[…] Calvin Coolidge personified Yankee virtues to the nation in a time of frightening change. He was thrifty, puritanical, moralistic and reassuringly old-fashioned. He was also funny, in a peculiar, biting […]

Nigel Tate February 27, 2017 - 12:30 am

Coolidge’s noted cigar habit was even a “victim” of his frugality, with many of his cigars having been “gifted” to him, and not bought by Coolidge himself.

http://www.cigaraficionado.com/webfeatures/show/id/6103/p/2

STUNNER: Look wow much Melania Is spending as first lady compared to Michelle - Politically Off Target July 31, 2017 - 4:55 pm

[…] According to the New England Historical Society: […]

Just In: Melania Trump’s amount of money spent vs. Michelle’s — Patriots United July 31, 2017 - 7:58 pm

[…] According to the New England Historical Society: […]

STUNNER: Look HOW MUCH MELANIA IS SPENDING As FIRST LADY Compared to MOOCHELLE ... WOW August 1, 2017 - 4:25 pm

[…] According to the New England Historical Society: […]

Comments are closed.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest artciles from the New England Historical Society

Thanks for Signing Up!

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join Now and Get The Latest Articles. 

It's Free!

You have Successfully Subscribed!