R and J in the USA

In the tiny hamlet of Plymouth Notch, Vermont, we were introduced to Calvin Coolidge, America’s 30^th president. We didn’t technically meet him, but we did visit the Calvin Coolidge Historic Site in his hometown of Plymouth Notch. As he is a president not much talked about, it did feel like an introduction. And we liked what we learned.

Granted, we were in a place designed to celebrate him, so we saw his best face. And historians and economists can debate his effectiveness as a president. But, focusing on the person and not the president, he appeared to be humble and sincere. He appeared to be genuinely interested in doing good for the country. And he appeared to be more interested in the business of the job than in the pretensions of the job.

We were impressed with how down to earth he remained despite occupying rarefied air. While vice-president, for example, he would visit his father periodically and help work the family farm – the in the fields swinging a scythe kind of farm work. The vice-president of the United States of America was doing manual labor on a small farm in out of the way rural Vermont. And it wasn’t for show. It was to help his father.

We were also impressed with the level of humility he maintained while occupying the highest office in the land, and how that humility extended all the way to his final resting place. His grave in a nondescript rural cemetery has no place of prominence. He is simply buried among a row of seven generations of Coolidges. His three-foot tall gravestone is the same shape and design of those of his wife and sons. And it is as simple as all of them. The only words etched on it are

CALVIN COOLIDGE

JULY 4, 1872

JANUARY 5, 1933

The only allusion to his presidency is a bas-relief of the presidential seal at the top of the headstone. And even that is no larger nor more prominent than the bas-relief designs at the top of his wife and sons’ headstones.

And we were impressed with his approach to the business of life, as exemplified in his quote regarding persistence:

Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On!’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

We enjoyed our introduction to Calvin Coolidge. However he may be viewed as a president, from our perch a century on he struck us as a person with some admirable traits from whom some lessons could be learned.