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Grace Coolidge, 1879-1957
Born Burlington, Vermont
Grace Goodhue graduated from the University of Vermont in 1902, then trained at the Clarke Institute for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts. There she met Calvin Coolidge, whom she married in 1905; they had two sons. As first lady, her warmth and charm balanced her husband's stern public personality. Although President Coolidge, reacting to the previous administration's scandals, shielded his family from the press, the first lady found channels to exert her influence. She once gave a five-minute speech in sign language at a luncheon for newspaperwomen, reinforcing her advocacy for the education of the deaf. She also undertook a remodeling of the White House.
May McClure Kelley, 1924 |