Elder Statesmen are thrice welcome at the White House. For them and their years of wise achievement, President Coolidge has a sincere reverence. Some day, perhaps not far .from now, Calvin Coolidge may reasonably expect to be himself regarded as an Elder Statesman.* It was with unusual pleasure and a fervent handshake, therefore, that he last week welcomed into his office Elder Statesman Elihu Root of New York.
Together they passed out of a side entrance, followed a brick walk eastward to the White House, lunched téte-a-téte in the sombre State Dining Room. Their talk was of the World Court, the possible U. S. membership therein, and of Mr. Root’s unofficial mission to Geneva next month to assist in the revision of the Court’s statutes. The President was interested.
Old memories crowded at Mr. Root’s elbow: McKinley’s Cabinet meetings in that stodgy second-story room of the White House; the new Cabinet room, later, under Roosevelt. President Coolidge relished these recollections.
As Mr. Root went away the President must have noticed that his step was like a girl’s, his slender shoulders unbroken by time. Newsgatherers flocked about the departing Elder Statesman. Did he think, they asked, the World’s Court rules could be so changed as to insure American membership?
Answered Mr. Root: “I am not a prophet or the son of a prophet.”
¶ Late one afternoon, President Coolidge sniffed enjoyably at false spring in the misty February air. Leaving off his overcoat, he set forth for a walk—down West Executive avenue, around the ellipse, up the opposite side. Then he did something that Presidents very seldom do: he went calling on a Cabinet official.
Up the steps of the Treasury Building he climbed, strode into the elevator, stepped out at the second floor and entered the big, dark, deep-carpeted office of Secretary Mellon. There he examined plaster models of the Government’s new office buildings. Mr. Mellon stooped to point out the details. . . . Later the President walked briskly back to the White House.
¶ To Mrs. Edwin Denby, widowed last week President Coolidge telegraphed: “I am deeply grieved. . . . His life was an outstanding example of good citizenship . . . displaying qualities pf heart and mind which endeared him. . . .”
¶ President Coolidge signed a Congressional resolution authorizing some future President to invite foreign nations to exhibit at a Chicago World’s Fair in 1933—provided there is one. After its costly experience with Philadelphia’s Sesqui-Centennial in 1926, the U. S. attached strings: Chicago must show $5,000,000 as a cash guarantee before the invitations goout; the U. S. Treasury is to be put to not a penny’s expense.
¶ The Coolidges’ plans after March 4 were being discussed at a dinner given by a Cabinet officer for the President and Mrs. Coolidge. The President looked very blank. All angling for information had been futile. The hostess popped out, in spite of herself, with a suggestion. Why, she asked, might not Mr. Coolidge take a chair in “Thrift” at Aberdeen University? President Coolidge smiled broadly.
*Mr. Root is 84, Mr. Coolidge 56. The late great Boies Penrose used to insist that no man under 80 was eligible to Elder Statesmanship.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- L.A. Fires Show Reality of 1.5°C of Warming
- How Canada Fell Out of Love With Trudeau
- Trump Is Treating the Globe Like a Monopoly Board
- Bad Bunny On Heartbreak and New Album
- 10 Boundaries Therapists Want You to Set in the New Year
- The Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise Harder
- Nicole Kidman Is a Pure Pleasure to Watch in Babygirl
- Column: Jimmy Carter’s Global Legacy Was Moral Clarity
Contact us at letters@time.com