Calvin Coolidge
Washington, D.C., November 8, 1924
Recently Reelected Calvin Coolidge Thanks Daughter of Massachusetts Congressman
TLS

CALVIN COOLIDGE, Typed Letter Signed, November 8, 1924, Washington, DC. On "The White House" stationery; with envelope. 1 p., 7" x 9". Light toning; very good.

President Calvin Coolidge acknowledges a letter and congratulations on his election in 1924 from the daughter of former Congressman Augustus P. Gardner and the granddaughter of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.

Complete Transcript
November 8, 1924.
My dear Mrs. Means:
Thank you very much for your note of the 5th and for your generous congratulations. Your father's old District gave me an endorsement of which I am very proud, and because of my regard for Captain Gardner I am especially glad to have this word from his daughter.
Very truly yours,
Calvin Coolidge
Mrs. W. G. Means,
229 Marlborough Street,
Boston, Massachusetts.

Historical Background
At the death of Warren G. Harding in August 1923, Vice President Calvin Coolidge succeeded him as president. With a booming economy at home and peace abroad in 1924, the Republican National Convention nominated Coolidge for a full term as president. After a deadlock between front-runners William Gibbs McAdoo and Al Smith through 102 ballots, Democrats nominated John W. Davis of West Virginia as their compromise candidate. The Progressive Party nominated Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin.

In the election, Coolidge won a landslide victory, capturing 54 percent of the popular vote and carrying all of the states of the Northeast, Midwest (except Wisconsin), and West with a total of 382 electoral votes. Davis won 28.8 percent of the popular vote and carried twelve states of the "Solid South" but lost his home state of West Virginia. La Follette attracted only 16.6 percent of the popular vote and carried only his home state of Wisconsin and its 13 electoral votes.

Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) was born in Vermont and graduated from Amherst College in 1895. An attorney by profession, Coolidge served in the state House of Representatives as a Republican from 1907 to 1908, then in the Massachusetts Senate from 1912-1915, the latter year as its president. From 1916 to the beginning of 1919, he served as lieutenant governor under Governor Samuel W. McCall, then succeeded McCall as governor of Massachusetts from 1919 to 1921. From 1921 until President Warren G. Harding's unexpected death on August 2, 1923, Coolidge served as vice president. He succeeded Harding as president and won reelection in 1924. Coolidge's presidency was marked by rapid economic growth. As a committed federalist and former governor, Coolidge believed many regulatory and other functions belonged to state and local governments, and he kept federal spending low. After leaving the Presidency in March 1929, Coolidge returned to Massachusetts and wrote his memoirs.

Constance Lodge Gardner Means (1894-1941) was born in Massachusetts, the daughter of Augustus P. Gardner (1865-1918) and Constance Davis Lodge Gardner (1872-1948). Her father graduated from Harvard University in 1886 and studied at Harvard Law School, served in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War, and represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives (1902-1917), before resigning to rejoin the army during World War I. Her mother was the daughter of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge. In 1915, Constance Gardner married Joseph Minot (1892-1983), and they had two children before divorcing. In 1924, she married William Gordon Means (1884-1963) in Washington, D.C., and they had one child before divorcing. In 1930, she married Presley Morgan Taylor in Philadelphia. Around the same time, she inherited an interest in the $4 million estate of her uncle Willaim Amory Gardner, which passed to her three children.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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7" x 9"