Presidents Veeps First Ladies White House First Pets Directory USAT Home
USA Trivia Info FAQ E-mail:profmark@usa.com Ask Prof Mark  Biographies Aargh

 

Grace Goodhue Coolidge
Date of Birth: January 3, 1879
Date of Death: July 8, 1957 [78]
Married: October 4, 1905 -
Calvin Coolidge
Children: 2

  • Grace and Calvin lived across the street from each other in Northampton, Massachusetts.
  • They were married after a two year engagement
  • Grace was very outgoing and enjoyed a varied social life, while Calvin was quiet and self absorbed, an interesting mix that led to humorous personality clashes
  • Once at a White House garden party reporters made inquiries of the First Lady, who had been instructed not to speak to the press, and as a former instructor at the Clark Institute for the deaf in New York, she obeyed by responding in sign language
  • She was the first First Lady to bring her own radio to the White House
  • Grace was an avant baseball fan, and collected score cards of the Boston Red Sox
  • She was invited to sit in their dugout during the 1925 World Series
  • She was the first wife of a president to appear in a newsreel made for the Christmas Seal Campaign
  • She openly solicited support for her favorite charity, the Salvation Army
  • Her youngest son Calvin Jr. developed a blister on his foot while playing barefoot tennis on the White House court, and died of a blood infection shortly thereafter
  • With Prohibition in effect she refrained from serving alcohol in the White House, but lodged her own protest against the law by naming her collie after a popular scotch drink, Rob Roy