Date: February 17, 1925
Location: Washington, D.C.
(Original document available here)
I don’t know of anything that would indicate that the Russian Soviet Government might be recognized in the near future.
I haven’t any public statements that I know of to make relative to the ratification of the Child Labor Amendment. My position on that was put into my speech of acceptance.
I don’t know what states are expected to be invited to the World Radio Conference. I suppose that will be determined on by those in control of the conference. I don’t think any determination has been made at the present time.
My inaugural address will not be ready for next Friday. I don’t expect it will be ready until some time next week, probably the latter part of the week. But I am quite certain that it will be short enough so that there will not be any great difficulty in distributing it.
I didn’t know that my selection of George P. Parkes to be Governor of Alaska was especially unexpected. Of course I conferred with the Secretary of Interior about it. Mr. Parkes has been in the service of the United States for quite a long time and was a resident of Alaska. It seemed to the Department and myself that would be quite helpful if we had a resident of Alaska to be Governor of that territory. I followed there the same precedent that I found to have been established and which I followed in relation to the appointment of the Governor of Hawaii. The present Governor there is a resident of the Hawaiian Islands and I reappointed him. Governor Bone, the present Governor of Alaska is a very excellent man. He is known to you, perhaps, as a newspaperman who was in Washington, and if I wanted to choose anyone who is not a resident of Alaska, I don’t know where I could get a better man than Governor Bone. We did think would be much better policy to have a resident of the territory.
Nothing of importance came up at the Cabinet Meeting today. Two or three matters of a very trifling nature.
The report of the Aircraft Board, I think you have, or will be given out this morning and you will get the entire report. There was some question as to when was to be published. I think the Navy wanted it to be out in several days. It is quite voluminous and is worthy of considerable study before is printed and before it may be commented on. There has gone along with a statement that I am giving out as to recommendations that I am making to the Congress, on account of the recommendations that have come to me in this report, so that you will see what I am doing in response to the report that has been made to me.
I haven’t chosen anyone to be Ambassador to Germany.
I have already said I can’t tell when my inaugural address will be ready, but I very much think it will be ready next week, sometime.
I haven’t accepted any invitations without reservation. I have had a number of invitations under contemplation, Minneapolis, and the Commander of the American Legion came in yesterday to speak to me about going to Indianapolis. I have an invitation to go to the University of Michigan. It was extended to me last year and I wasn’t able to undertake then. I thought it would look very much more easier if it was put off a year, but it is beginning to look harder and harder every day. But I do very much want to go up there, and I am very much distressed at the illness of President Burton, of Michigan University, who, as you will recall , was the man who placed my name in nomination at the National Convention. He had pneumonia that developed into other complications, which makes his illness very serious. I have got a list of invitations about a column long. I don’t know as there is any use in rehearsing them. I will go whenever I can. But there are a good many difficulties. I have take a train of people with me and one invitation always results in the issuance of a great many more. If I publish that I am going to Minneapolis, it is assumed that I can stop at every place between here and that town and go on to the stations beyond that. I would like to do those things, if I had the time and strength to do it. Necessarily my efforts in that direction have to be very much limited.
I think that covers the questions for the day.
Citation: Calvin Coolidge: Remarks by the President to Newspaper CorrespondentsÂ
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