In 1922 there still was no official residence for the Vice President of the United States. Calvin Coolidge took up residence in the New Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. during his vice presidency.
In April of that year, a small fire broke out in the hotel. All of the guests were evacuated from their rooms until the fire could be brought under control. Coolidge I patiently waited on the street, along with the other guests. When it appeared the danger had passed, he decided to return to his suite.
A fire marshall challenged him. “Who are you?”
“I’m the Vice President,” responded Coolidge.
“All right, go ahead,” he was told.
Before taking more than a few steps upstairs, Coolidge was again challenged by the marshal. “What are you vice president of?”
The answer was, “I am Vice President of the United States.”
“Come right down,” declared the fire official. “I thought you were the vice president of the hotel.”
The Day President Lincoln Became a Firefighter
The job of President of the United States can often be described as one of constantly putting out fires. Of course, we expect that to be a figurative description. For one President, however, that was literally the truth. On February 10, 1864 Sergeant Smith Stimmel was standing guard for President Abraham Lincoln at the White…
Asleep at the Senate
On February 7, 2017, Vice President Mike Pence became the first Vice President to cast the tie-breaking vote in the US Senate for the confirmation of a cabinet member. Under the terms of the Constitution, the Vice President presides over the Senate, but does not have a vote except for the purpose of breaking a…
Leave a Reply