Chapter One of Calvin Coolidge’s Autobiography

Read by the new Program and Editorial Associate of the Coolidge Foundation, Rushad Thomas, here is the first installment of the finest Presidential memoirs ever written. It is aptly suited for reading, written as it was for child and adult alike. Listen carefully, take time to reflect on the observations and insights offered and be ready to learn from one of the wisest and most underestimated of our Presidents.

Calvin at age 3, 1875-76. This was the year his grandfather carried him the to the Vermont State House in Montpelier. When little Calvin reached for the gavel, it was time to leave. Little could anyone suspect that the authority of a presiding officer would loom large in his future (The Autobiography p.18).