THE PRESIDENCY: Burial

The funeral ceremonies of Calvin Coolidge Jr. were as simple as could be arranged for the son of a President. The coffin lay in the East Room of the White House, covered with pink and white roses and guarded by a small detachment of Marines. Services, consisting of hymns and a few passages from the Scriptures, were read in the presence of those members of the official group who remained in Washington. Less intimate friends were permitted to assemble on the north lawn during the service.

That evening a special train, carrying the body, left with Mr. and Mrs. Coolidge, John Coolidge, their other son, the members of the Cabinet (except Messrs. Hoover, in California, and Mellon, abroad), Mr. and Mrs. Frank W. Stearns, the President’s Secretaries and aides. At Northampton the next morning, church services were held. Colonel Coolidge and Mrs. Andrew Goodhue, grandparents of the dead boy, joined the funeral party there. Services were equally simple and brief, as in the former ceremony, of only about one-half hour’s duration.

Again the party took the train and proceeded to Ludlow, Vt., from whence a funeral procession of automobiles went twelve miles overland along the narrow hill roads to Plymouth. A grave had been dug in the little cemetery, only a few hundred yards from the Coolidge homestead. It lay on a tree-covered knoll. The services were very brief—less than 15 minutes in length. The little Marine Guard saluted, as the bugler sounded taps.

Throughout the trying ceremonies the President and Mrs. Coolidge preserved great self-control. Only at the grave, she wept a little, softly. Several members of the Cabinet—Mr. Hughes, Mr. Weeks, Mr. New—appeared deeply moved. C. Bascom Slemp wept. After the interment, the Coolidges retired to the Coolidge home. Colonel Coolidge was persuaded to accompany the President back to Washington. Mr. Coolidge called his son John to the doorway and marked his height upon the doorframe with the legend “J.C. 1924.” On the same frame were other marks for both “J.C.” and “C.C.” with various years. To these the President added another mark: “C.C. 1924, if alive.”

At 6:15 in the evening the party again boarded its special train and left for Washington.

On account of his son’s funeral, the President was able to hold very few conferences, and those only of the briefest and most pressing kind.

Over the week end the Coolidges cruised on the Mayflower, without guests except for the Stearns’ and Mrs. Arthur Capper, wife of the Senator from Kansas.

Because of the death of Calvin Jr. the ceremony of informing the President of his nomination was postponed from the proposed date, July 24, to August 14.