Calvin
Coolidge’s terms in the Massachusetts Senate coincided with the beginning of
World War I in Europe (1912 – 1915). The great debate about America’s role and
participation in the conflict began. The Massachusetts legislature appointed a
Committee to Study Preparedness in 1915.
The Hampshire Gazette reported on a union
service at the Methodist Church marking a day of prayer for peace in its October
5, 1914 issue. Among State Senator Coolidge’s reported remarks were these:
“Science,
while it makes men wiser, makes the instruments of destruction more deadly…
Therefore, it seems that the only hope for permanent peace is to be found in
the hearts of men.”
1 comment:
Very interesting! Thank you -
As Lt. Governor, Calvin Coolidge rode in a tank - the "Britannia" - in support of the British war effort. Does this remind us of anyone? No photos of the jaunt have surfaced though photos of the tank can be found on line.
Nearly my favorite sentence in Coolidge's autobiography describes the end of the Great War.
"What the end of those four years of carnage meant those who remember it will never forget and those who do not can never be told."
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