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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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(Taped
11DEC64)

While Mrs. Stearns wanted me to make every effort to improve her husband's health, she expressed a feeling that for me to talk too much about his health to him made him nervous and that I had better limit my advice to him to avoid him getting {begin inserted text}in{end inserted text} too nervous a state. I explained to her that he wished me to help him in ways of health betterment and to treat him as I saw was required. I had to advise him frankly and make just as clear as possible to him what his physical situation was now {begin inserted text}how{end inserted text} he and I must meet it if it were to be corrected. He {begin inserted text}I{end inserted text} was not willing to temporize and disregarded Mrs. Stearns' advice; rather, I discussed fully and completely my findings as I discovered them and presented a regime of treatment and care which I felt, if followed implicitly by him, would improve his health very greatly. It was not easy for him to desist in his long-established habit of overeating--and the Stearns lived very, very well. They could afford the very best and the largest quantities of food as they wished, and with the passage of time it did not come too quickly, Mr. Stearns did respond and did improve in health.

This particular Sunday, July 3rd, I sent a night letter to President Coolidge in the Black Hills with congratulations and best wishes for his 55th birthday, which would occur the following day, he having been born on the 4th of July. Much attention was paid to his birthday out in the Black Hills and they put on quite a show for him. He had many visitors and quite a gala day. Indians arrived. Not only did he attire himself in a cowboy outfit, but put on an

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Indian war bonnet, which the Indians presented to him. This photograph of President Coolidge was widely publicized and brought much ridicule to the President, because it depicted him as really out of cas e {begin inserted text}t{end inserted text} as a product of the Granite State of Vermont and coming from a little rural community as the son of a farmer. It is believed that with the passing of time President Coolidge regretted very much that he had ever permitted himself to come to putting on a war bonnet or having pictures taken of him so attired, as he did dressed in cowboy costume.

This particular 4th of July while Mrs. Boone, our daughter, and I were at Swampscott, we made it a real day of pleasure for our daughter with fireworks, being permitted to see many of them fired well after dark. It was the first time that she had ever remained up until 11 o'clock in the evening or had seen such a firework display. Of course, she jumped with glee like any normal child would on such an occasion. As a little boy, I remember distinctly looking forward to 4th of July as one of the great days of the year for me and the kids that I played with. We got {ILLEGIBLE} up very early, having purchased a lot of fireworks of a type approved by our parents, and commenced firing them long before any of the family arose. I had a young boyhood chum who was an avid fireworks displayer. He was the first one up in the mornings on the 4th of July and the last to go to bed. Perpetual motion, and where he got the money to buy so many fireworks of all descriptions, I wouldn't know. I was concerned with some of the large ones he purchased and the way he threw them at people. He loved to frighten people, old particularly older and younger men. I never

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looked upon him as a sadist, but never have I known anyone throughout the years so enthusiastic about fireworks as was Harry Rhodes who grew up with me in the mining town a of the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania. The larger the firecrackers and the louder the noise they made, the happier he was to fire them off.

I was very pleased the day after the 4th of July to take Mr. Stearns and to call on General Preston Brown, commanding the First Corps Area with headquarters in Boston. He had been Chief of Staff of the Second Division, my Division in France in World War One. He was the only Army General, to my knowledge, who commanded the First, Second, and Third Divisions at different times. I invited him to have dinner on the MAYFLOWER one Sunday evening while we were in the Boston Navy Yard. In reply to my invitation he wrote me under date of July 27th, 1927:

"Dear Commander Boone:

"It would give me great pleasure to dine with you Sunday evening at 8 o'clock. I regret exceedingly that I have not had an opportunity to return your very courteous call. Absence from the city, and pressure of duties that will require again my absence beginning tomorrow until the end of the month, is the only excuse.

"kindest regards. Sincerely yours,
"Preston Brown,
"Major General, U.S. Army Commanding."

That was from the Headquarters, First Corps Area, United States Army, Boston.

He was a very soldierly, military looking gentleman. I thought he was very tough and hard when I first met him when he was a colonel

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as Chief of Staff of the Second Division. I later lea {begin inserted text}r{end inserted text} ned not only was he a great soldier in war, but he had a warm heart and was very kindly disposed. When Mrs. Coolidge had occasion to be in Northampton a number of times during her mother's illness, he provided a large Packard limousine and chauffeur for us to have at Northampton all the time on not only one occasion, but every time we went to Northampton he made provision for us to have this motor transportation at our disposal.

One morning going on the g train from Lynn, Massachusetts, which was the station from which traveled on the railway from Swampscott to Boston, he said that he felt now, and seemed to emphasize "now", the President would not run, but then observed that sometimes he thinks he will and sometimes he thinks he will not. He had a hard time to make up his mind what decision the President would make. I observed that {begin inserted text}for{end inserted text} the President's own personal sake I hoped he would not run; for the country's sake, I hoped that he would, adding that I well knew the American people were fickle and would tire greatly of him before his term expire d {begin inserted text}s{end inserted text} in 1933, adding that I believe there was plenty of material in the nation to be nominated and for the Presidency and was sure in my mind that the President or any President is not an indispensable man, nor did I believe that President Coolidge was in no sense one bordering on the superman. Mr. Stearns said he would not know u to whom to turn if President Coolidge did not run. He believed President Coolidge could break the solid South, if not in 1928, during his next {begin inserted text}t{end inserted text} erm ' . So, obviously, Mr. Stearns was looking through very rosy tinted glasses at long range.

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Another day, in talking with Mr. Stearns, as on some other occasion, I took issue with Mr. Stearns {begin inserted text}him{end inserted text} . He would take raps at President Theodore Roosevelt and President Harding. I moderated some degree, voicing how incensed I was at some things he said, because I was his house guest, and then I was aware that he was much older man than I was, with him basking in the sunshine of glory from having made a President of the United States, believing that he had more to do with the President's being nominated and elected, possibly, than any single man. He said that someone had told him m just before President died that "we should have less Ohio sand and more New England granite in our administration". This comment peeved me very much, but I kept silent with difficulty. In this same conversation Mr. Stearns thought that the President an Coolidge would work w for a realignment of party lines.

One day Mrs. Boone and I had a lovely motor trip with Mr. and Mrs. Stearns to Grafton, Massachusetts, where we saw their two fine daughters and their grandchildren. We had lunch at Louise Stearns Prescott's house with her two very attractive little girls. We liked her husband. We were very pleased to meet their other daughter and her husband, the daughter being Emily Stearns Giese.

Mr. and Mrs. Stearns had a splendid son whose name was Foster Stearns.

It was a great pleasure for Mrs. Boone to have her father come for a visit in mid-July to Swampscott, staying at the New Ocean House, which he liked very much. He made several visits to that hostelry in subsequent years. It was not a fancily decorated hotel, but one

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of real comfort, wide and long verandas where people could sit and rock and look out over the beautiful beach as {begin inserted text}and{end inserted text} far out to sea and along the lovely winding Massachusetts coast.

Years later Mrs. Boone and I returned there for a visits, for the manager and later the owner of the New Ocean House was a Colonel Clement Kennedy, most attractive and gracious and cordial gentleman. He had a very lovely wife, C {begin inserted text}K{end inserted text} atherine. The Kennedys became very intimate friends of ours. e {begin inserted text}E{end inserted text} ven up into 1964 they still are among our beloved friends. Clem Kennedy was one of the most unusual hotel managers that I had {begin inserted text}e{end inserted text} ver known. He knew all of his guests, gave each one very personalized attention, saw that everybody was comfortable, e was ever on the job seeking ways and means to adding to their comfort. He was really an institution within an institution of rarity. When ladies departed from the hotel, he always saw them off at the [???]ps of the driveway entrance, presenting each lady with a lovely orchid corsage. {begin inserted text}Para.{end inserted text} We certainly enjoyed the visit of my father-in-law while he was in the Swampscott area. We never saw him any happier than he was there, enjoyed the Stearns and all our friends, liked going to the yacht club, motoring, perfectly content if there was nothing going on, to just sit and rock, read, smoke his cigar, and look at the landscape. One never had to make a lot of fuss over Father Koch. He had a fine mind and he could always entertain himself [???]ly, but without fanfare.

When one of the newspaper reporters, a man by the name of Bob Norton who reported for the BOSTON POST, returned from Rapid City, South Dakota, he informed us that {begin inserted text}at{end inserted text} Swampscott that the President

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and Mrs. Coolidge were out there, was, as he put it, "bunk". He said it was indescribably a terrible place, the worst a President could have selected. He said that President Coolidge was doing a very effective political job in getting close to farmers and having them get to know him and rub shoulders with him, with him emphasizing to them that the industrial East would {begin inserted text}was{end inserted text} being hit just as hard as they were economically. Norton said the President while out in Rapid City area had become a real Rotarian. There were early suspicions that the President was warming up to the r farmers and to the people in the West to feather his nest looking toward re-nomination for President at the convention in the summer of 1927 {begin inserted text}1928{end inserted text} .

Mr. Stearns said to me on July 11th, while chatting with him, that Senator William M. Butler, who as the Chairman of the National Republican Committee and feels President Coolidge would run for re-election, not because he particularly wants to, but because he recognized it to be necessary and to do so as {begin inserted text}is{end inserted text} a public service. Mr. Stearns also said that he himself and Dwight Morrow waver from time to time whether or not the President would run for re-election, Mr. Stearns adding that the President had devoted his life to "better government". Of course, Mr. Stearns was most anxious that the President would run do nothing, say nothing that would [???]tract from being selecte d {begin inserted text}e{end inserted text} of the convention in 1927 {begin inserted text}1928{end inserted text} .

July 12 my father and I visited the State House in Boston with Mr. Ben Felt, a great friend of Mr. Sterans, acting as our experienced guide. {ILLEGIBLE} had the privilege of calling on Governor Fuller and saw Judge Thayer of the Sacco-Vanzetti {begin inserted text}(ledo?){end inserted text} case fame, passing

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out of the council chambers.

At the table next to our {begin inserted text}s{end inserted text} while we were having lunch sat the governor of Sacc h o-Vanzetti Commission: Doctors Loyal Lowell of Harvard, Stratton, and Judge Grant. We were having lunch in the Union League Club with Mr. Stearns. Of course, Father Koch, being a judge for many years, was particularly interested in meeting Governor Fuller and seeing Judge Thayer, also the Governor's Sacco-Vanzetti Commission.

By mid-July Mrs. Stearns became ill, but I did not think it was of a serious nature, more of an emotional upset. She has a sensitive nervous syste r m, which from time to time disturbs her digestion. I cautioned her against too much excitement and being too active mentally and physically. For a period of days this had been occurring recently. {ILLEGIBLE} doesn't like to have conflicting plans and she likes to arrange things and gets disturbed if they are interfered with by others making cross-plans. I advised her strongly against deciding to go to the Black Hills. She said sometimes that she then wanted to go, and {begin inserted text}then{end inserted text} again she did not wish to go. I was thoroughly convinced it was not the place for her. I did not believe the atmosphere would be cond i {begin inserted text}u{end inserted text} cive to happiness for either her or Mr. Stearns out there type of activities in which the President was indulging.

Mr. Stearns was again showing very critical attitude toward President Theodore Roosevelt, knocking him clearly. I did not argue with him, because, as he now became a patient of mine and trying to

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get him in better health and more peace of mind, I tried to make many a sacrifice to keep him from getting mad, which he would do quite readily when he thinks of people he doesn't like. I knew he was worried about the Republican convention coming up next summer. I also knew he was disturbed because President Coolidge gave him no idea what he was thinking in regard t to the convention or whether to seek or accept renomination or not. Mr. Stearns was just not in the know at that time, and that bothered him very much.

I told Mr. Stearns that he and Mrs. Stearns should not make the trip to South Dakota. I did not think, as I told him, that the altitude out there would be one for to which Mrs. Stearns should be exposed. The trip would be {begin inserted text}a{end inserted text} physically hard one for both of them. Both of them would be very much better if they remained in their lovely home at Swampscott and away from the political scene for a while. I knew his nervous syste r m played a very important part in his tendency to high blood pressure and with his overweight I was concerned, naturally, that he might suffer a f vascular accident. I said I would be much relieved to find that they decided not to go. {ILLEGIBLE} said the trip would be as easy as possible because the President of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad promised to let the Stearns use his private car from Chicago. Then Mrs {begin inserted text}Mr.{end inserted text} Stearns added that he himself really did not want to go out to South Dakota.

On the 21st of July Mary Randolph and her sister came to Red Gables, the Stearns' home, for a weekend visit. I was aware that there were certain conversations that we should not indulge in this particular

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weekend. The Randolph sisters seemed very tired and indeed pleased to be in Swampscott and enjoyed the Stearns' home immensely.

Great excitement in early July when Lindbergh paid a visit to Boston. I read much about it in the newspapers, but did not get to see him on that occasion.

Gratifying to find that the Randolph sisters' views coincided with mine in regard to Mr. and Mrs. Stearns' going to the Black Hills. Mary Randolph said that President Coolidge shows more appreciation, adding, of an intangible nature, of Mrs. Coolidge than he does of anyone else, which I should add, that would be very natural, but I wished it was more evident. Mary Randolph thought the President did not appreciate Mr. Stearns. She says it shows a disposition not to particularly need him, that the President did not wish anyone to stand in his way or be an encumbrance upon him in any form. I presume that she meant interfere with any political activities.

On July 23rd the Stearns informed me that they had written President and Mrs. Coolidge that they would not go to South Dakota that summer. I was greatly reli {begin inserted text}e{end inserted text} ved, for it would have been a mistake socially, physically, and emotionally, I surmised.

Mrs. Coolidge had written Mrs. Stearns that she would not urge them to come, as it was an isolated place and the roads were dusty. There were constant comings and goings of guests, many remaining for meals, and she was sure, with the atmosphere then existing, the President's absorption in w {begin inserted text}s{end inserted text} o many people, that Mr. Stearns would become bored and restless.

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That day Mr. and Mrs. Stearns, together with Helen and myself, were guests of Admiral and Mrs. Andrews in the Commandant's house at the Navy Yard for luncheon, with some other Naval officers and their wives present. Mrs. Andrews told me that she thought Helen a very charming lady.

On Sunday, July 24th, I realized with a heavy heart that it was my last day of visiting with my Helen and little Suzanne before their departure that night. We motored, walked, and swam together. It was a wonderful day, yet I felt homesickness coming on before they departed. We had a good part of the day with our good friends, the Morris LaCroix's, indulging in a great many sports. Suzanne was adorable every moment of the day. The Randolph sisters congratulated Helen and me on bringing up such a sweet girl as Suzanne who, they said, was not a bit the least bit spoiled and was just adorable in their words. She was so good that it made my heart ache in leaving. She was an unusual little girl, great charm and loveliness {begin inserted text}(regretted mine?){end inserted text} at a very early age in her life. She said as we said goodbye at the station, "Daddy, I do not like to say goodbye."

The next day my lonesomeness was shared by the Stearns and their fine maid, Alma, who gave a great deal of attention to Suzanne while she and Mrs. Boone were visiting at Red Gables that summer. Mr. Stearns said that everyone says it is so very lonesome without little Suzanne and that their cottage, which was really a beautiful home, house, seemed desolate.

The Stearns had a Doctor and Mrs. Clark for dinner. It gave me an opportunity to have a long consultation with him in regard to

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to Mr. Stearns. He was the doctor who {begin inserted text}had{end inserted text} looked after them for the past number of years and knew both the Stearns well as patients and as friends, and I was greatly benefited in appraising and mapping out any modifications of my prescribing for Mr. Stearns by this conference with his former family physician.

When the Randolphs left the Stearns' home, I found that we had had a very delightful visit with them. We missed them. I realized it was good to see such people away from official life in Washington when one is off the public stage and where there is so much artificiality, in contrast to the life one can have in such a love {begin inserted text}l{end inserted text} y summer resort place as the north shore of Massachusetts.

Late in July the Stearns had a delightful dinner party, their guests being Admiral and Mrs. Andrews (Philip Andrews, Commandant of the First Naval District), Captain and Mrs. Brown, and Mr. Maynard who was Mr. Stearns' righthand man in the operation of the beautiful R. H. Stearns Store in Boston. Captain Brown had not seen the attractive Corinthian Yacht Club heretofore. I took him up to Marblehead to see it. He had been with the ship all the time at the Boston Navy Yard and had not had the pleasure, as I had in the past, of having the MAYFLOWER to live aboard on in the Marblehead harbor. The Browns were houseguests on this occasion at Red Gables; they just loved it. Had some delightful motor trips together, even going up to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where I had had my first duty and where Helen and I went as a bride and groom, arriving there July 1, 1914. It was delightful to return to those early scenes which meant so much to us

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as bride and groom.

By chance, we had the good fortune of seeing Doctor and Mrs. Irvine of Mercersburg at Magnolia, just by chance, not knowing that they were even in the area, except we did know that they were at Hotel Wentworth for a time, which is not far from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

July 29 I was very busy on the ship preparing for some parties that we were going to give before we left the Massachusetts Bay area. I disliked very much thinking of packing up and leaving north shore, which I had come to love very deeply. {begin inserted text}(great?){end inserted text} route to Boston that morning with Mr. Stearns, I {begin inserted text}we{end inserted text} stopped at the Naval Hospital, Chelsea, to have some blood samples taken for chemical examination of his blood. Mr. Stearns and I had a long talk on my prolonged tour of duty in Washington. I sought his opinion. He said if I stayed another ten years, I will "not be worth anything professionally or personally". He thinks Washington ruins people in general. He knows of circumstances why I have continued in this duty so long, but says I should feel no obligation to stay longer if favorable opportunity presents itself, f as there is no emergency to remain and since I have already stayed so long. He feels I should leave the Navy before long and go into private practice. I told him I would not remain beyond March 29 under any circumstance that I could foresee. (How shortsighted I was!) His reply to that was that it was very close to the present and it was proper that I should stay at least until that date. I emphasized I only had remained now as a purely patriotic duty, so that I might relieve President Coolidge

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of the slightest anxiety, if by my being with him afforded him any lessened strain and saved his becoming acquainted with {begin inserted text}a{end inserted text} new physician late in his administration. He dislikes having new people to work with him, as he told me on the MAYFLOWER when I discussed seeking duty in foreign sho e {begin inserted text}r{end inserted text} es, that he did not like to make any changes in his physicians. Mr. Stearns felt that the President should not have either an Army or a Navy doctor, for he feels they are intimidated by military restrictions and f not free to express a final opinion. (How wrong he was in that concept, but then Mr. Stearns never had any military service whatever and had never been a part in any way of a military organization, for he did not know whereof he spoke!) Mr. Stearns recognized that the President was a most unsatisfactory sort of patient who has "backwoods" ideas on medicine and will only take medical advi s {begin inserted text}c{end inserted text} e when he sees fit to do so and will b {begin inserted text}r{end inserted text} arely see fit to do so.

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