‘Silent’ Calvin Coolidge
Was Master of the Radio

Although he was nicknamed "Silent Cal," former President Calvin Coolidge has been selected for enshrinement in the Vermont Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Coolidge, a Vermont native who served as our 30th U.S. President, was actually the first chief executive to recognize and harness the power of radio broadcasting. Coolidge delivered 40 radio speeches to the American public, creating a bond between politics and mass media that continues to this day.

Coolidge was born in Plymouth on July 4, 1872 and later became governor of Massachusetts. He was elected vice president in 1920, under Warren G. Harding, and was sworn in as President upon Harding's death in 1923. Coolidge was elected to a full term in 1924. He died in Northampton, Mass. in 1933, four years after leaving office.

Speeches over the radio became Coolidge's main campaign tool during the 1924 elections, when the Republican defeated Democrat John Davis and Progressive Robert LaFollette. He continued to deliver speeches over the radio during his presidency, predating Franklin Roosevelt's "Fireside Chats" by nearly a decade.

Cyndy Bittinger, executive director of the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation in Plymouth, noted in a recent article for the Rutland Herald that many commentators claimed the radio speeches won the election for Coolidge. The foundation is publishing a book this year about Coolidge's radio experiences.

Bittinger is expected to be joined by one of Coolidge's great-grandchildren at the VAB's annual Hall of Fame dinner, May 2 at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Montpelier.

Also winning induction into the VAB Hall of Fame this year is Ronald Whitcomb, the longtime engineer for Vermont Public Television.