Married to a man known as silent cal, she never spoke to the press, but she did use her office to bring attention to issues she cared about. Good evening, and welcome to cspan series, first ladies influence and image. Tonight, well be telling you the story of first lady Grace Coolidge who came into office with her husband, the president , in 1923 after the sudden death of president harding. Here to set the stage for us as we learn about the fiveplus years of their time in the white house is amity shlaes, who is a coolidge biographer, syndicated columnist, author of other books on that period. Welcome to the program. Lets have you just tell us about of the arrival of Calvin Coolidge into the white house. How prepare was he for the job . Amity actually, quite prepared because hed been a politician all his life. President coolidge was one of those men who started small in city council, a City Solicitor in massachusetts where the coolidges lived, and went all the way up the ladder of the s
Going west from boston, you had to head over the passes on the old mohawk trail. Then you got into an area maybe 20 miles wide and 50 miles long. Like a lot of new england towns, there are the traditional white houses and neat gardens and picket fences. That is the oldest house. Then there are the churches. And the town hall. The country around stockbridge has forest, farms, water in good supply. They tell me it is much like the lake country in england, including the writers to go along with the scenery. Hermann melville, the author of moby dick, lived here. In the summertime, the quiet of the town changes to a bustle of summer visitors, who come to enjoy the countryside, the theater, the ballet at jacobs pillow, and of course the concerts at tanglewood, where the boston symphony plays. But most of the time, the village life flows like the quiet stretches of the housatonic river, an indian name meaning beyond the mountain place. I am tom glazer in the boat over there on my way to visit