Editing Calvin Coolidge (section)

==Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Massachusetts (1916−1921)==
Coolidge entered the [[Partisan primary|primary election]] for lieutenant governor and was nominated to run alongside gubernatorial candidate [[Samuel W. McCall]]. Coolidge was the leading vote-getter in the Republican primary, and [[ticket balance|balanced]] the Republican ticket by adding a western presence to McCall's eastern base of support.{{sfn|Fuess|1940|pp=139–142}} McCall and Coolidge won the 1915 election to their respective one-year terms, with Coolidge defeating his opponent by more than 50,000 votes.{{sfn|Fuess|1940|p=145}}

In Massachusetts, the lieutenant governor does not preside over the state Senate, as is the case in many other states; nevertheless, as lieutenant governor, Coolidge was a deputy governor functioning as an administrative inspector and was a member of the governor's council. He was also chairman of the finance committee and the pardons committee.{{sfn|White|1938|p=125}} As a full-time elected official, Coolidge discontinued his law practice in 1916, though his family continued to live in Northampton.{{sfn|Fuess|1940|pp=151–152}} McCall and Coolidge were both reelected in 1916 and in 1917. When McCall decided that he would not stand for a fourth term, Coolidge announced his intention to run for governor.{{sfn|Sobel|1998a|pp=107–110}}

===1918 election===
Coolidge was unopposed for the Republican nomination for [[List of governors of Massachusetts|Governor of Massachusetts]] in [[1918 Massachusetts gubernatorial election|1918]]. He and his running mate, [[Channing Cox]], a Boston lawyer and Speaker of the [[Massachusetts House of Representatives]], ran on the previous administration's record: [[fiscal conservatism]], a vague opposition to [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]], support for women's suffrage, and support for American involvement in [[World War I]].{{sfnm|Sobel|1998a|1p=111|McCoy|1967|2pp=75–76}} The issue of the war proved divisive, especially among [[Irish American|Irish]] and [[German Americans]].{{sfn|Sobel|1998a|p=112}} Coolidge was elected by a margin of 16,773 votes over his opponent, [[Richard H. Long]], in the smallest margin of victory of any of his statewide campaigns.{{sfnm|Sobel|1998a|1p=115|McCoy|1967|2p=76}}

===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}}
|}

===1919 election===
{{Main|1919 Massachusetts gubernatorial election}}

In 1919, Coolidge and Cox were renominated for their respective offices in 1919. By this time Coolidge's supporters, especially Stearns, had publicized his actions in the Police Strike around the state and the nation, and some of Coolidge's speeches were published in book form.{{sfn|Coolidge|1919|pp=2–9}} He faced the same opponent as in 1918, Richard Long, but this time Coolidge defeated him by 125,101 votes, more than seven times his margin of victory from a year earlier.{{efn|The tally was Coolidge 317,774, Long 192,673.{{sfn|Fuess|1940|p=238}}}} His actions in the police strike, combined with the massive electoral victory, led to suggestions that Coolidge run for president in 1920.{{sfnm|Fuess|1940|1pp=239–243|McCoy|1967|2pp=102–113}}

===Legislation and vetoes as governor===
By the time Coolidge was inaugurated on January 2, 1919, the First World War had ended, and Coolidge pushed the legislature to give a $100 bonus ({{Inflation|US|100|1919|fmt=eq}}) to Massachusetts veterans. He signed a bill reducing the work week for women and [[child labor|children]] from 54 hours to 48, saying, "We must humanize the industry, or the system will break down."{{sfnm|Sobel|1998a|1p=117|Fuess|1940|2p=195}} He passed a budget that kept the tax rates the same, while trimming $4 million from expenditures, allowing the state to retire some of its debt.{{sfn|Fuess|1940|p=186}}

Coolidge wielded the veto pen as governor. His most publicized veto prevented an increase in legislators' pay by 50%.{{sfnm|Fuess|1940|1p=187|McCoy|1967|2p=81}} Although he was personally opposed to Prohibition, he vetoed a bill in May 1920 that would have allowed the sale of beer or wine of [[Low-alcohol beer#Small beer|2.75% alcohol or less]], in Massachusetts in violation of the [[Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]]. "Opinions and instructions do not outmatch the Constitution," he said in his veto message. "Against it, they are void."{{sfn|Fuess|1940|pp=187–188}}