History Space: A Coolidge celebration

Joe Fountain was the editor of Springfield's weekly paper on August 3, 1923 when Calvin Coolidge became President of the United States. Fountain was the only newsman present for the 1:47 a.m. swearing in ceremony.

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-_19980803.jpg History Space: A Coolidge celebration MARTHA REEVES LANG, For the Free Press Published 7:46 p.m. ET July 29, 2017 | Updated 7:57 p.m. ET July 29, 2017 A Coolidge celebration back in Vermont A year after he became president in his family's Vermont house, President Coolidge returned home for a celebration. DENNIS REDMOND/FREE PRESS MUSTRUN.JPG (Photo: From the estate of Elizabeth Reeves Lang) I spent time with my mother when she was older writing down her childhood recollections. These stories and the photographs of her when she was young are precious to me. The ones of my mother with her family the first time President and Mrs. Coolidge returned to Plymouth, Vermont, after his 1923 Homestead Inauguration are historically significant. When she told me stories I asked about Joe Fountain who was the only newsman at the Coolidge inauguration on Aug. 3, 1923. The first time President and Mrs. Coolidge returned to Plymouth after this ceremony was August of 1924 and my mother, Elizabeth Reeves, was 10 years old and attended the festivities with her family. They drove to Springfield and stayed with Joe and his wife. Her father, J. Edward Reeves, graduated from high school with Grace Goodhue Coolidge. Memories of the big day Seventy years later my mother recalled the details of this celebration. She remembered the dress she wore was a beige silk with ruffles and pink ties on the side and a straw hat with a ribbon around the crown that matched her dress. VERMONT DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH Few Vermonters Know If Their Well Water is Safe In a receiving line on the lawn in front of Coolidges’ home, President and Mrs. Coolidge greeted the guests. When Mrs. Coolidge saw my grandfather she said, “How are you Edward? I haven’t seen you in the longest time!” The receiving line stopped while they chatted. Unknown to the guests, Mrs. Coolidge had cut her finger earlier that day but exchanged greetings until her hands were swollen. Fountain, the only news reporter at the homestead inauguration, was born in 1899 in Colchester in the section that is now the city of Winooski. Genealogy records show both of his parents were in their mid-40s and had been married for 20 years when Joe was born. He was their only child. The 1900 census of the Fountain home in Colchester included the three Fountains, a servant girl, and two hired men. The Calvin Coolidge inauguration is reenacted at 1:47 a.m. Monday, Aug. 3, 1998, in Plymouth Notch. From left, Lydia Coolidge Sayles as Grace Coolidge; Christopher Coolidge Jeter as his great-grandfather Calvin Coolidge; Porter H. Dale as his grandfather Congressman Porter Dale; Jim Cooke as Col. John Coolidge; Eric Francis as reporter Joe Fountain; and William Jenney as Erwin Geisser, Calvin Coolidge aide. (Photo: AP file photo) My mother recalled her grandfather was doing legal work in Winooski when Joe was brought to his attention. My research supports this information. Joe’s father died in 1902 and her grandfather, Sheriff Reeves, was the guardian of Fountain estate which included an 18-acre parcel of land, a 35-acre parcel, and a lot of land with a house and shed. My mother always said Joe came from something. Joe was one of the family Sheriff Reeves probated the Fountain estate, settled the debts, and negotiated the sale of the family’s home. Joe’s mother died in 1907 leaving Joe an orphan. Since Joe was known to Sheriff Reeves he was brought to our house to live. He was never legally adopted but was always treated as one of the family and was never made to do manual work on the property.

Joe , 1946 A 1946 photo of Joe Fountain. He was the only reporter at the swearing in of Calvin Coolidge as president on Aug. 3, 1923. (Photo: From the estate of Elizabeth Reeves Lang) When Joe came to live with my great grandparents he was not destitute: He had a crate of blue and white china that had been left to him by his parents. It was kept in a barrel in the cellar of our house until he was married and took it to his new home. Joe was always called a cousin to cut down on the complications of his being raised by my great grandparents. When he was young he painted his initials on the wall of the storage room in the cellar. They are still there as a reminder of my family’s generosity and the happiness Joe brought them. Our house was the only home Joe had ever known. An early photograph of my mother with her father and brother is bent with tattered edges. On the back is Joe’s name, Company E, 101 Ammunition Train, Haute Marne, France, April 7, 1918. At 16, Joe enlisted to fight in World War I. The Second Battle of Haute Marne (July 15- Aug. 6, 1918) marked the start of the Allied advance culminating in the armistice with Germany. Thoughts of my family were all Joe had to cling to during those horrific days. After the war my mother, only 4 years old, sat on her father’s shoulders as they waited for Joe’s train to arrive in Burlington. When Joe walked in to the kitchen of our house my great grandmother threw her arms around him and wept. Joe’s succesful career Despite Joe’s lack of education – he never graduated from high school and didn’t go to college – by 1923 at the age of 24 he was the editor of the weekly paper, The Reporter, in Springfield and a correspondent for the Boston Bureau of the Associated Press. This is the photo Joe Fountain carried with him during This is the photo Joe Fountain carried with him during World War I. Martha Lange, author of this article, identifies the three as her grandfather, Edward Reeves; her mother, Elizabeth Reeves, 2, on the right; and the little boy is her uncle Thomas Reeves, 3. She said they were the only family Joe knew and he loved them dearly. (Photo: From the estate of Elizabeth Reeves Lang) Even as a child Joe showed a gift with words. One summer my great grandparents sent him to Underhill to be in the country for a few weeks. In a letter he wrote them he described, in vivid terms, a rat he saw running across the barn floor. As a 10-year-old there was so much emotion in his writing with an ability to convey his fascination about the creature. By 1930 Joe and his wife, Florence, moved to St. Albans, where he worked in the public relations department of the Central Vermont Railroad. Later they moved to Westchester County in New York and he worked in mid-town Manhattan in public relations for the Canadian National and produced feature films with CBS television. I lived in New York City for many years. When my mother came to visit and we would be in mid-town and walking by Rockefeller Center she would say, “That’s where Joe worked.” Eventually Joe retired, and he and his wife moved back to St. Albans where he was mayor from 1966-1968. When John Coolidge donated the family homestead to the state of Vermont in 1957 Joe returned to watch the reenactment of the 1923 inauguration. (This year there will be a reenactment of this inauguration at the Coolidge Homestead on Aug. 5th and the public is invited to attend. For more information go to www.HistoricSites.Vermont.gov/Coolidge.) -_19990317.jpg In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge receives a small American flag from 8-year-old Lorraine B. Dinnick of White River Junction. (Photo: Courtesy Vermont Historical Society) When Coolidge became president Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the United States was born in Plymouth Notch on July 4, 1872. On Aug. 2, 1923, Vice President Coolidge was visiting his family home when President Harding died unexpectedly in San Francisco while on a speaking tour of the western United States. A telegram about Harding’s death was sent from San Francisco to White River Junction at 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 2. Then the Western Union office called the Cilley Store across the street from the Coolidge Homestead, the only telephone in the town but there was no answer. The message was telephoned to Bridgewater 10 miles from Plymouth and delivered to the Coolidge house by the clerk in charge of the town’s public phone. It was received about midnight by the vice president. Coolidge dressed, said a prayer, and came downstairs to greet the reporters who had converged on the village. The news services including the Associated Press and the United Press International knew of the seriousness of Harding’s condition and assigned staff who were staying in Ludlow. Coolidge told them he was going to wait until the next morning to take the oath, so they left. On the night of Aug. 2, Joe was 20 miles south of Plymouth in Springfield. There was a rumor of Harding’s death but it was only when Joe got a call from the Boston Bureau of the Associated Press that it was confirmed. -_19990628.jpg Calvin Coolidge gives a piece of candy to Jimmy Wilcox in 1923. Coolidge had just become president the night before. Coolidge’s father and wife Grace are on the left. (Photo: Photo courtesy of the Coolidge Foundation) ‘Get a car and shoot up to Plymouth’ Joe was told, “Harding is dead. Get a car and shoot up to Plymouth. If you get anything worthwhile tie up a wire to Boston, even if you have to go to Rutland or Springfield. There is only one line in Plymouth and that has been commandeered by the government.” Joe hired a cab and he was joined by three other men including Vermont Congressman Porter Dale. On their way to the Coolidge homestead they met and spoke with the newsmen in a car leaving the Coolidges. One reporter said, “There’s no point Joe. We’ve just left and Mr. Coolidge has gone to bed. He will take the oath of office in the morning.” Dale, aware of the urgency of swearing in Coolidge, was convinced he could persuade him to do it immediately, which he did. Coolidge agreed to take the oath without delay and since his father was a notary he could officiate the ceremony. Coolidge was the only president to be sworn in by his father. Using the telephone in the country store across the street they checked with Attorney General Harry Dougherty on the form and the legality of the pledge. Mrs. Coolidge suggested they wait until there were other reporters before being sworn in but Coolidge remarked. “I think our young friend will be perfectly willing to make the event known to the Associated Press.” Suddenly, without premeditation Joe found himself the only newspaperman present in the room to witness the administration of the oath of office to the 30th president of the United States by the chief executive’s own father. This incident, unique in history occurred at 2:47 a.m. Aug. 3, 1923. Coolidge Homestead Historic photo of the Coolidge homestead in Plymouth Notch. (Photo: From the estate of Elizabeth Reeves Lang) The brief ceremony was ended before any of the witnesses fully realized it. Joe had the dramatic story of how a shy, determined Vermonter, through hard work and grit became president of the United States and was sworn in a two-and-a-half story home where there was no electricity, telephone, or running water, by the light of a kerosene lamp surrounded by the gentle hills of southern Vermont. Coolidge’s secretary typed the words of the oath and made two copies. The president and five witness signed the original. I thought it would be nice to have a copy of the original document with Joe’s signature. It seems no one knows where it is or what happened to it. President and Mrs. Coolidge returned to Washington. the next day. As they left the homestead the president asked the driver to stop at the Plymouth Notch Cemetery where his mother was buried and not let anyone approach them. He and Mrs. Coolidge paid their respects with silent prayers with their heads bowed. He later remarked that somehow his mother seemed very near to him that morning. Very soon a Harding crony raised questions about whether a state official could administer a presidential oath, so Coolidge repeated the ceremony on Aug. 21, 1923 with a federal judge in Washington. The United States Constitution requires the president to take an oath at the beginning of his term, but it does not identify the person or officer who is to administer the oath. It is very interesting to note that the vice president by law need not take any oath to succeed to the office. He becomes president automatically when the president dies. I feel fortunate to have shared so many of my mother’s memories with her and to have kept her photos. Coolidge always kept a picture of his mother with him and a lock of her hair in a locket. The stories my mother told me and her childhood images provide me with courage, perhaps similar to what President Coolidge sought from his mother’s mementoes. Martha R. Lang, Ph.D., lives in the Reeves Homestead in Burlington and she owns and manages her family’s real estate. Her memoir stories have been published in local and national magazines and newspapers. -BUR 0801 coolidgehorse.jpg_20130729.jpgBuy Photo A photo at the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site shows Coolidge on a horse. (Photo: Free Press file)