announcement at a sufficiently early date so that the party would have
ample time to choose some one else. An appropriate occasion for that
announcement seemed to be the fourth anniversary of my taking office.
The reasons I can give may not appear very convincing, but I am
confident my decision was correct.
My personal and official relations have all been peculiarly pleasant.
The Congress has not always done all that I wished, but it has done very
little that I did not approve. So far as I can judge, I have been
especially fortunate in having the approbation of the country.
But irrespective of the third-term policy, the Presidential office is of
such a nature that it is difficult to conceive how one man can
successfully serve the country for a term of more than eight years.
While I am in favor of continuing the long-established custom of the
country in relation to a third term for a President, yet I do not think
that the practice applies to one who has succeeded to part of a term as
Vice-President. Others might argue that it does, but I doubt if the
country would so consider it.
Although my own health has been practically perfect, yet the duties are
very great and ten years would be a very heavy strain. It would be
especially long for the Mistress of the White House. Mrs. Coolidge has
been in more than usual good health, but I doubt if she could have
stayed there for ten years without some danger of impairment of her
strength.
A President should not only not be selfish, but he ought to avoid the
appearance of selfishness. The people would not have confidence in a man
that appeared to be grasping for office.
It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of
self-delusion. They are always surrounded by worshipers. They are
constantly, and for the most part sincerely, assured of their greatness.
They live in an artificial atmosphere of adulation and exaltation which
sooner or later impairs their judgment. They are in grave danger of
becoming careless and arrogant.
The chances of having wise and faithful public service are increased by
a change in the Presidential office after a moderate length of time.
It is necessary for the head of the nation to differ with many people
who are honest in their opinions. As his term progresses, the number who
are disappointed accumulates. Finally, there is so large a body who have
lost confidence in him that he meets a rising opposition which makes his
efforts less effective.
In the higher ranges of public service men appear to come forward to
perform a certain duty. When it is performed their work is done. They
usually find it impossible to readjust themselves in the thought of the
people so as to pass on successfully to the solution of new public
problems.
An examination of the records of those Presidents who have served eight
years will disclose that in almost every instance the latter part of
their term has shown very little in the way of constructive
accomplishment. They have often been clouded with grave disappointments.
While I had a desire to be relieved of the pretensions and delusions of
public life, it was not because of any attraction of pleasure or
idleness.
We draw our Presidents from the people. It is a wholesome thing for them
to return to the people. I came from them. I wish to be one of them
again.
Although all our Presidents have had back of them a good heritage of
blood, very few have been born to the purple. Fortunately, they are not
supported at public expense after leaving office, so they are not
expected to set an example encouraging to a leisure class.
They have only the same title to nobility that belongs to all our
citizens, which is the one based on achievement and character, so they
need not assume superiority. It is becoming for them to engage in some
dignified employment where they can be of service as others are.
Our country does not believe in idleness. It honors hard work. I wanted
to serve the country again as a private citizen.
In making my public statement I was careful in the use of words. There
were some who reported that they were mystified as to my meaning when I
said, “I do not choose to run.”
Although I did not know it at the time, months later I found that
Washington said practically the same thing. Certainly he said no more in
his Farewell Address, where he announced that “choice and prudence”
invited him to retire.
There were others who constantly demanded that I should state that if
nominated I would refuse to accept. Such a statement would not be in
accordance with my conception of the requirements of the Presidential
office. I never stated or formulated in my own mind what I should do
under such circumstances, but I was determined not to have that
contingency arise.
I therefore sent the Secretary to the President, Everett Sanders, a man
of great ability and discretion, to Kansas City with instructions to
notify several of the leaders of state delegations not to vote for me.
Had I not done so, I am told, I should have been nominated.
The report that he had talked with me on the telephone after his
arrival, and I had told him I would not accept if nominated, was pure
fabrication. I had no communication with him of any kind after he left
Washington and did not give him any such instruction or message at any
time.
I thought if I could prevent being nominated, which I was able to do, it
would never be necessary for me to decide the other question. But in
order to be perfectly free, I sent this notice, so that if I declined no
one could say I had misled him into supposing that I was willing to
receive his vote.
I felt sure that the party and the country were in so strong a position
that they could easily nominate and elect some other candidate. The
events have confirmed my judgment.
In the primary campaign I was careful to make it known that I was not
presenting any candidate. The friends of several of them no doubt
represented that their candidate was satisfactory to me, which was true
as far as it went.
I can conceive a situation in which a President might be warranted in
exercising the influence of his office in selecting his successor. That
condition did not exist in the last primary. The party had plenty of
material, which was available, and the candidate really should be the
choice of the people themselves. This is especially so now that so many
of the states have laws for the direct expression of the choice of the
voters.
A President in office can do very much about the nomination of his
successor, because of his influence with the convention, but the feeling
that he had forced a choice would place the nominee under a heavy
handicap.
When the convention assembles it is almost certain that it will look
about to see what candidate has made the largest popular showing, and
unless some peculiar disqualification develops it will nominate him.
That was what happened in the last convention, although no one had a
majority when the convention assembled.
A strong group of the party in and outside of the Senate made the
mistake of undertaking to oppose Mr. Hoover with a large number of local
candidates, which finally resulted in their not developing enough
strength for any particular candidate to make a showing sufficient to
impress the convention.
Although I did not intimate in any way that I would not accept the
nomination, when I sent word to the heads of certain unpledged state
delegations not to vote for me, they very naturally turned to Mr.
Hoover, which brought about his nomination on the first ballot.
The Presidential office differs from everything else. Much of it cannot
be described, it can only be felt. After I had considered the reasons
for my being a candidate on the one side and on the other, I could not
say that any of them moved me with compelling force.
My election seemed assured. Nevertheless, I felt it was not best for the
country that I should succeed myself. A new impulse is more likely to be
beneficial.
It was therefore my privilege, after seeing my administration so
strongly indorsed by the country, to retire voluntarily from the
greatest experience that can come to mortal man. In that way, I believed
I could best serve the people who have honored me and the country which
I love.
THE END