Editing Calvin Coolidge (section)

===Boston police strike===
{{Main|Boston police strike}}
[[File:Coolidge inspects militia.jpg|thumb|upright|Coolidge inspects militia during the 1919 [[Boston police strike]]]]

In 1919, in reaction to a plan of the policemen of the [[Boston Police Department]] to register with a [[trade union|union]], Police Commissioner [[Edwin U. Curtis]] announced that such an act would not be tolerated. In August of that year, the [[American Federation of Labor]] issued a charter to the Boston Police Union.{{sfnm|Russell|1975|1pp=77–79|Sobel|1998a|2p=129}} Curtis declared the union's leaders were guilty of insubordination and would be relieved of duty, but indicated he would cancel their suspension if the union was dissolved by September 4.{{sfn|Russell|1975|pp=86–87}} The mayor of Boston, [[Andrew James Peters|Andrew Peters]], convinced Curtis to delay his action for a few days, but with no results, and Curtis suspended the union leaders on September 8.{{sfnm|Russell|1975|1pp=111–113|Sobel|1998a|2pp=133–136}} The following day, about three-quarters of the policemen in Boston went on strike.{{sfn|Russell|1975|p=113}}{{efn|The exact total was 1,117 out of 1,544{{sfn|Russell|1975|p=113}}}} 

Tacitly but fully in support of Curtis's position, Coolidge closely monitored the situation but initially deferred to the local authorities. He anticipated that only a resulting measure of lawlessness could sufficiently prompt the public to understand and appreciate the controlling principle: that a policeman does not strike. That night and the next, there was sporadic violence and rioting in the city.{{sfn|White|1938|pp=162–164}} Concerned about [[sympathy strike]]s by the firemen and others, Peters called up some units of the [[Massachusetts National Guard]] stationed in the Boston area pursuant to an old and obscure legal authority and relieved Curtis of duty.{{sfn|Russell|1975|p=120}}

Coolidge, sensing the severity of circumstances were then in need of his intervention, conferred with Crane's operative, William Butler, and then acted.{{sfn|White|1938|pp=164–165}} He called up more units of the National Guard, restored Curtis to office, and took personal control of the police force.{{sfn|Sobel|1998a|p=142}} Curtis proclaimed that all of the strikers were fired from their jobs, and Coolidge called for a new police force to be recruited.{{sfn|Russell|1975|pp=182–183}}
That night Coolidge received a telegram from AFL leader [[Samuel Gompers]]. "Whatever disorder has occurred", Gompers wrote, "is due to Curtis's order in which the right of the policemen has been denied".{{sfn|Sobel|1998a|p=143}} 

Coolidge publicly answered Gompers's telegram, denying any justification whatsoever for the strike—and his response launched him into the national consciousness.{{sfn|Sobel|1998a|p=143}} Newspapers nationwide picked up on Coolidge's statement and he became the strike's opponents' newest hero. Amid the [[First Red Scare]], many Americans were terrified of the spread of [[communist]] revolutions like those in [[Russian Revolution of 1917|Russia]], [[Hungarian Soviet Republic|Hungary]], and [[German Revolution of 1918–19|Germany]]. Coolidge had lost some friends among organized labor, but conservatives saw a rising star.{{sfn|Shlaes|2013|pp=174–179}} Although he usually acted with deliberation, the Boston police strike gave Coolidge a national reputation as a decisive leader and strict enforcer of law and order.

{| class="toccolours" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 2em; font-size: 85%; background:#c6dbf7; color:black; width:30em; max-width: 40%;" cellspacing="5"
| style="text-align: left;" |"Your assertion that the Commissioner was wrong cannot justify the wrong of leaving the city unguarded. That furnished the opportunity; the criminal element furnished the action. There is no right to strike against the public safety by anyone, anywhere, any time. ... I am equally determined to defend the sovereignty of Massachusetts and to maintain the authority and jurisdiction over her public officers where it has been placed by the Constitution and laws of her people."
|-
| style="text-align: left;" | "Telegram from Governor Calvin Coolidge to Samuel Gompers", September 14, 1919{{sfn|Coolidge|1919|pp=222–224}}
|}