Coolidge celebrates VP nomination with 3-mile hike

The nomination of Calvin Coolidge as vice president in 1920 put the Massachusetts governor immediately in the national media spotlight.

“The governor was the target during the day for a battery of movie men and photographers,” The Post-Star reported on June 14, 1920. “With Mrs. Coolidge he went for a short walk in the vicinity of their hotel in forenoon, and in the afternoon he took a three-mile hike. He is not enthusiastic over any particular sport and finds most of his recreation in walking.”

He politely corrected an erroneous news report.

“Governor Coolidge, as he was greeted by newspapermen this morning, made a whimsical complaint of a statement published in a local paper that he paid $35 a month rent for his half-house in Northampton, whereas he actually pays $32,” The Post-Star reported. “He said that if the landlord should happen to see the story, the rent might be raised to correspond, and this, the governor declared, he did not want to happen.”