FIRST LADY GRACE COOLIDGE - FREE FRANK SIGNED CIRCA 1934 - HFSID 80672

GRACE COOLIDGE
President's widow sends a letter four months after receiving the franking privilege.
Envelope franked: "Grace Coolidge", 6½x3½. Addressed by her to: "Mr. Howard C. Beck,/825 Woodward Bldg./Washington,/DC". Postmarked Northampton, Mass., October 18, 1934. Former President Calvin Coolidge was 60 when he died in Northampton on January 5, 1933. His widow, Grace, was granted the franking privilege, free use of the mails for life, by a special act of Congress on June 16, 1934. The Former Presidents Act of 1958 formalized the granting of the franking privilege to former Presidents and their widows. Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge died in Northampton at the age of 78 in 1957. The Woodward Building at 1426 H Street, NW (733 15th Street) was designed by the Washington firm of Harding and Upman in 1911. It is two blocks from the White House. Grace Anna Goodhue (1879-1957) married Calvin Coolidge on October 4, 1905 in Burlington, Vermont. The couple had two children, John and Calvin, who died in 1924 while his father was the nation's 30th President (1923-1929). Mrs. Coolidge was called her husband's greatest asset because of her warm, giving ways, which were in dramatic contrast to her grave, quiet husband (the White House staff called her "Sunshine"). Forbidden by Coolidge to speak in public, she once answered reporters in sign language (she had been a teacher at a school for the deaf when she met her future husband). While President, her husband set her schedule and would not let her fly in a plane, bob her hair, wear short skirts or ride a horse. Creased, lightly soiled. Overall, fine condition.