Calvin Coolidge writing to his father: December 12, 1924.

Coolidge ends this letter by indicating that, with John home, the loss of Calvin, Jr. is amplified. In his Autobiography, Coolidge writes of Calvin’s death, “We do not know what might have happened to him under other circumstances, but if I had not been President he would not have raised a blister on his toe, which resulted in blood poisoning, playing lawn tennis in the South Grounds.”

Some have suggested that Coolidge gave up on the presidency after the death of Calvin and accomplished little after 1924, a claim not supported by the evidence. Although Coolidge deeply mourned the death of his son, he does not list the death of Calvin, Jr. as one of the reasons he chose not to run in 1928 in his Autobiography.