Details
COOLIDGE, Calvin (1872-1933), President. Autograph letter signed ("Calvin Coolidge") to Joe Mitchell Chapple, Washington, 15 March 1921. 2 pages, 4to, on Vice-President's Chamber stationery, some soiling at edges, creases repaired with tape on verso.
A RARE AUTOGRAPH COOLIDGE LETTER ON VICE-PRESIDENTIAL STATIONERY. In the famous but probably apocryphal story, a lady turns to Coolidge at a dinner and announces that she has bet her friends that she can get the famous Silent Cal to say three words that evening. Coolidge replies, "You lose." But here, writing to National Magazine editor Joe Mitchell Chapple, he is positively garrulous: over 100 words, on his fame, his convention history, on Massachusetts candy and his wife. "It is very fine of you to think of an article on me in your magazine. I have read so much praise of myself that I am a little tired of it. If you are to print the article I wish to urge you that you make the changes that I have indicated in behalf of the truth. It is an unrecorded fact that I had 40 votes on the first ballot. It was reported as 35 and my friends knowing that some were to leave me on the second ballot let it stand at 35. It was most kind of you and Mrs. Chapple to bring a box of real Mass. candy to us. Mrs. Coolidge will send you a picture tomorrow. She is always a refuge when all else fails." Chapple wrote campaign biographies for Harding and Wendell Willkie. He and Coolidge had become friendly on the 1920 campaign trail.
A RARE AUTOGRAPH COOLIDGE LETTER ON VICE-PRESIDENTIAL STATIONERY. In the famous but probably apocryphal story, a lady turns to Coolidge at a dinner and announces that she has bet her friends that she can get the famous Silent Cal to say three words that evening. Coolidge replies, "You lose." But here, writing to National Magazine editor Joe Mitchell Chapple, he is positively garrulous: over 100 words, on his fame, his convention history, on Massachusetts candy and his wife. "It is very fine of you to think of an article on me in your magazine. I have read so much praise of myself that I am a little tired of it. If you are to print the article I wish to urge you that you make the changes that I have indicated in behalf of the truth. It is an unrecorded fact that I had 40 votes on the first ballot. It was reported as 35 and my friends knowing that some were to leave me on the second ballot let it stand at 35. It was most kind of you and Mrs. Chapple to bring a box of real Mass. candy to us. Mrs. Coolidge will send you a picture tomorrow. She is always a refuge when all else fails." Chapple wrote campaign biographies for Harding and Wendell Willkie. He and Coolidge had become friendly on the 1920 campaign trail.