This portrait of Calvin Jr., depicted sitting on the front porch rail at the Coolidge Homestead, by Ebin Comins, was presented in December of 1927 by Mrs. Coolidge to the Red Cross for display at Walter Reed Hospital, Washington, D. C., where young Calvin had spent his final week before tragically dying 90 years ago today.

Reflecting four years after the death of his younger son and namesake, Calvin Jr., President Coolidge wrote,

“He was boy of much promise, proficient in his studies, with a scholarly mind, who had just turned sixteen. He had remarkable insight into things…The ways of Providence are often beyond our understanding. It seemed to me that the world had need of the work that it was probable he could do…Sustained by the great outpouring of sympathy from all over the nation, my wife and I bowed to the Supreme Will and with such courage as we had went on in the discharge of our duties” — The Autobiography pp.189, 190, 191.

Calvin Jr.’s grave, where his body rests among those of his family at Plymouth Notch, Vermont.

In Memoriam Calvin Coolidge Junior, 1908 – 1924.