Calvin Coolidge writing his father: June 4, 1920.

Coolidge writes at the end of the 1920 session of the Massachusetts General Court and the beginning of the Republican National Convention. On the members of the General Court, Coolidge says to his father, “you cannot realize what a burden they are.” Coolidge will have to wait until 1:30 am on June 5 to prorogue the Court. The Boston Daily Globe said, “The calendar day passed before it was possible to complete the business in hand.” Coolidge signed many bills but did veto a bill calling for a raise for county employees. This was not because of the raise per se, but because Coolidge saw the raise by the legislature as a usurpation of the rights of county commissioners.

Coolidge also comments on the number of college commencements where he will be needed to speak. That year, he spoke at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester on June 16, Williams College in Williamstown on June 20, Wesleyan University in Connecticut on June 21, Bates College in Maine on June 23, Harvard University on June 24, and the University of Vermont on June 28.

Coolidge also comments on the upcoming Republican National Convention, which will open in Chicago on June 8 and how “affairs there are in a mess.” The Boston Daily Globe’s headline for June 5 was “Republicans Grope for a Leader” and commented, “not only are the Republican leaders of yesterday gone, but the bosses, the managing men of the State machines also are mostly gone.” In this “mess” Coolidge, who had been in discussion as a candidate for president since the prior fall says, “I have a chance.”