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Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929
Boone Papers. Chapter on President Coolidge from the Memoirs of His Physician, Joel T. Boone.
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{begin inserted text}{begin handwritten}Inserted herewith is{end handwritten}{end inserted text}
A
n excerpt from
{begin inserted text}{begin handwritten}a letter written by{end handwritten}{end inserted text}
the Secretary of War, the Honorable John W. Weeks, to the President of the United States, with the letter dated March 4, 1925:
The latter part of Secretary Weeks' letter said:
"In his testimony General Mitchell has not only attacked the Navy Department and the active officers in that Department, but his own Department and the officers who are now largely responsible for its administrative policies. These latter officers are among those distinguished who conducted operations on the other side, which resulted in everlasting glory to American arms and to the winning of the war.... In addition to these matters, General Mitchell's whole course has been so lawless, so contrary to the building up of an
official
{begin inserted text}efficient{end inserted text}
organization, so lacking in reasonable teamwork, so indicative of a personal desire for publicity at the expense of everyone with whom he is associated that his actions render him unfit for a high administrative position such as he now occupies. (He was then the Assistant Chief of the Air
{begin inserted text}?{end inserted text}
Force.)
"I write this with great regret because he is a galland officer with an excellent war record, but his record since the war has been such that he has forfeited the good opinion of those who are familiar with the facts and who desire to promote the best interests of national defense.
"Respectfully yours,
"John W. Weeks
"Secretary of War."
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This letter, it should be noted,
as having been
{begin inserted text}{begin handwritten}was{end handwritten}{end inserted text}
published in the Army-Navy Register dated December 19, 1925,
{begin inserted text}{begin handwritten}{ILLEGIBLE}{end handwritten}{end inserted text}
captioned, THE TRIAL OF COLONEL MITCHELL.
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could have a more charming and delightful godchild than I have in Sarah Alden Derby Gannett. She married
{begin inserted text}{begin handwritten}when she{end handwritten}{end inserted text}
grew up,
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very splendid young attorney, Robert Gannett. I shall make mention of this charming godchild of mine from time to time in my memoirs
{begin inserted text}{begin handwritten}.{end handwritten}{end inserted text}
for
s
{begin inserted text}{begin handwritten}S{end handwritten}{end inserted text}
he is very, very close to my heart.
On December 13th President and Mrs. Coolidge made a trip on the MAYFLOWER, taking as their guests Senator and Mrs. Dineen, Senator and Mrs. Sackett, Senator and Mrs. Williams, Mr. Hodges who was National Republican Committee
Chairman
Treasurer, Assistant Secretary of State and Mrs. Olds, Mr. and Mrs. Stearns, and Major Coupal who did not often accompany the President on MAYFLOWER trips. He and I would have pleasant times together when he did, but I never felt that he enjoyed cruising on the MAYFLOWER very much. He never seemed at home; seemed quite ill at ease aboard ship.
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After we landed in Washington--were only out one night on this occasion--I left for Newark, Delaware, with my father. He seemed in very good spirits and when his sister Margaret, who was my Aunt Maggie Dice, met us, and then later he saw his older sister Hallie, they both thought Father was very much improved from his visit to Washington.
I prevailed on my father
f
after we got to St. Clair to see attorney Edward Smith about my father's stepdaughter, Florence Short, and her financial involvements in my father's affairs. I prevailed on my father to have lawyer Smith initiate a will for my father. I did not stay in the private office of Mr. Smith while my father was with him, but waited in an anteroom until he
{ILLEGIBLE}
{begin inserted text}rejoined{end inserted text}
me. I felt I should not be with him when he
w
was making out a will. Father
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informed me that he had wanted Roscoe Koch, my wife's older brother who was a lawyer, to make the will for him, but upon more deliberation he thought it was unwise to have Roscoe do so, as he was really a member of the family, due to Helen's marriage to me. We knew that Father needed to have a will so that his desires would be known after his death and there would be no encroachment on his desires by suppositions that were not known. The relationships had become strained between his own children with his stepdaughter. Father was suffering a great deal of unhappiness with the relationship he was having
w
with her. I felt, with his making the will, his health would be improved, because
of
a great load would be lifted from his mind. That seemed to have been the case when we finally prevailed upon him to make a will. Everyone thought that upon his return from Washington he was very much improved in health and he was thinking very clearly and had a lot of restored vitality, both mental and physical, which was most gratifying to us children.
Upon my return to Washington on December 17th from my home in St. Clair, Pennsylvania, Helen and I, by invitation of course, attended a musicale at the White House following the diplomatic dinner.
It was that day that Surgeon General Stitt was operated upon at the Naval Hospital for a ruptured appendix, which gave us all a great deal of worriment. Unfortunately, he had an abscess and he had an open wound for quite a long time with considerable drainage. He later had a gallbladder operation, which did not heal well, and he had a sinus through the old wound former gallbladder area, which continued to give him much concern and really sapped, in a way,
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his vitality at periods. He was an amazing person. While he would worry about things, he would drive himself forward to accomplish whatever was at hand.
On December 20, which was a Sunday, President and Mrs. Coolidge made a trip on the MAYFLOWER, John with them, who was home for the Christmas vacation; Senator and Mrs. McNary of Oregon, Senator and Mrs. King of Utah, Mr. R. B. Craeger, Mr. J. C. O'Laughlin who was the owner and publisher of The Army and Navy Journal and a highly respected citizen. Senator King boasted terribly of his accomplishments to {begin inserted text}( [???]ander[???]){end inserted text} Secretary Curtis Wilbur in the presence of John Coolidge and myself. It embarrassed both of us, I think me more as a Naval officer than it did John. Senator King was a very outspoken man and made long and {begin inserted text}([???]ist){end inserted text} and arm-waving speeches on the floor of the Senate quite frequently.
The next night Helen and I were invited to the White House to see the movie, "The Big Parade" There were about 20 guests invited and an orchestra of 44 pieces came on from New York for the showing of the picture. To us it was a most marvelous one and probably the most marvelous one we had seen up to that time. It was so realistic that I left the showing of the picture with a frightful headache. John Gilbert was the principal in the picture. I felt that President and Mrs. Coolidge could not nearly appreciate the picture as much as those of us who had lived experiences in war, and it was a very, very realistic presentation to me who had fought so long and hard and severely in France in World War I. Mrs. Boone and I had been invited
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by Mr. and Mrs. Frank Wright to dinner at the Willard Hotel that evening, but when we were invited to the White House, which always took priority, we had to cancel our dinner engagement at the last minute, which is always embarrassing, but our hosts usually understood, and it occurred many times while I had duty at the White House.
Mrs. Coolidge wrote to Suzanne at Christmas time, sending her a quilt. The note stated: "For Suzanne's dolly. An elderly lady made this quilt for me and Santa Claus and I knew that she would like to have Suzanne use it to keep her dolly warm this cold wintry weather. There are not enough squares to tell Suzanne how much Mrs. Coolidge loves her. Merry Christmas!"
Three days after Christmas Mrs. Coolidge took Helen and me with her son John to see "Rose Marie". The company was not very good. As always, it was a great pleasure to be with Mrs. Coolidge and John.
I have stated that I became very fond of the Solicitor General and Mrs. William Mitchell. With the passage of time he became a patient of mine and I saw her professionally off and on. I had him as a patient for quite a while confined to his bed. December 29, 1925, Mrs. Mitchell wr
ite
{begin inserted text}ote{end inserted text}
me:
"M dear Dr. Boone,-
"Thank you very much for mailing me the placecards. (They were placecards from their trip on the MAYFLOWER.) I am very glad to have them, although I am afraid my request, of which I afterwards repented a little, may have caused you unnecessary trouble. It is difficult to remember little things of that kind and I certainly appreciate
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your thoughtfulness. I cannot refrain from telling you that Mr. Mitchell has a particular admiration for you,--and he is rather critical! My theory is that it does us all good to hear the kindly things said about us. I hope you agree with me.
"Please remember me to Mrs. Boone and accept Mr. Mitchell's and my own best wishes for a Happy New Year for both of you.
"Very sincerely yours,--
"Gertrude B. Mitchell."
She was a very gay and happy and cheerful spirit. Her presence always did those who were about her a great deal of good.
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