Garfield vs. Hancock

President Coolidge has a New-English way of telling a story for all his taciturnity. Speaking to the Ohio Society, he told a story of the Garfield-Hancock campaign of 1880 :

"It was during that campaign that I, as a small boy, approached my father, a very good business man, with the proposition that he should furnish me with a penny to buy some candy. He told me that we were in a political campaign and there was a probability, a possibility at least, that we were going to elect a Democrat for President. Such an action, he said, would undoubtedly be followed by hard times and therefore it was necessary to economize.

"That was good, sound doctrine, I think; anyhow, it had to do for me. But I recall that the next morning after the election and as soon as the news reached our town that James A. Garfield had been chosen President I went to my father and told him the result indicated we were to continue a Republican administration and with that prospect in view I was able to secure the advance of the sum I had asked."