Address at Faneuil Hall

Date: November 3, 1919

Location: Boston, MA

Context: Coolidge speaks of the Boston Police Strike on the eve of election day in 1919.


This is a time for thanks, a time for hope and a time for resolution.

Personally thanks are due from me to hundreds of thousands, millions of the people of the Commonwealth. I cannot reach them save through the public press, I cannot even ever know many of them. I recognize their good works. There are the clergy and those who are identified with our religious bodies, there is the public press of Massachusetts, there is no newspaper in this state qualified to claim the honor of representing a great party that is not supporting the cause that it has come to me to represent. I do not know of any great party organ anywhere in the nation that is not supporting that cause. There are the great patriotic societies, for whatsoever purpose formed, their resolutions lie high in the executive office. There are agricultural, industrial, commercial bodies, all these have taken the side of the government.

There is a great body of organized and unorganized labor, of officers and privates in their ranks, the real and true friends of the cause of those who toil, they are supporting our cause.

There are those who have organized to support our cause, there are my personal friends. To all these I offer the thanks that come from sincere gratitude.

It is a time for hope. By the experience of the past, by the tokens of the present, there is no reason for being discouraged. The people of this Commonwealth have responded amply to the call of every duty. Where one thousand fell out of the ranks ten thousand stepped in and one hundred thousand stood ready to respond. It has been demonstrated that there is not less but more loyalty in Massachusetts than ever before, that the government is not weaker but stronger than many supposed. Those who doubted it see more clearly now that the determination of the people to support their Constitution and laws, to maintain order is not weak, but strong, in fact overpowering.

They cannot be intimidated. They cannot be bought. They will never surrender. They will continue fighting.

It is a time for resolution. The contest will not be won, the victory will not be completed, the cause will not be secure until tomorrow night. Continue to put forth every effort, continue in well doing, continue in your determination to glorify Massachusetts. So long as that resolution is with you there will be no doubt of the result. The victory must be overwhelming, it must be decisive.

The issue is clear and plain. It cannot be misunderstood. That issue is can the people maintain their own safety? Can they make their own laws supreme? Can they sustain their own government?

On your decision rests all progress. It is no wonder all those to whom thanks are due support this issue. If we fail to maintain our own safety, business will end, the press will end, the chance for employment will end, parties will end, property will end, religious organizations will end, the right to life itself and to those rights which we hold dearer than life will end. I am for the continuation of all these. I am unutterably and unalterably opposed to all those in whatsoever garb they come who would destroy them. I call on the people to support order, to support the law, to maintain their government, and on the morrow to settle that question in Massachusetts forever.


Citation: Vermont Historical Society

View the original source

The Coolidge Foundation thank Isaac Oberman, who prepared this document for digital publication.

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>