Quote by Calvin Coolidge, (autobiography)

My own participation in the campaign was delayed by the death of my son Calvin, which occurred on the seventh of July. He was a boy of much promise, proficient in his studies, with a scholarly mind, who had just turned sixteen.He had a remarkable insight into things.The day I became President he had just started to work in a tobacco field. When one of his fellow laborers said to him, if my father was President I would not work in a tobacco field, Calvin replied, If my father were your father, you would....We do not know what might have happened to him under other circumstances, but if I had not been President, he would not have raised a blister on his toe, which resulted in blood poisoning, playing lawn tennis in the South Grounds.In his suffering he was asking me to make him well. I could not.When he went the power and the glory of the Presidency went with him.The ways of Providence are often beyond our understanding. It seemed to me that the world had need of the work that it was probable he could do.I do not know why such a price was exacted for occupying the White House.

Summary

This quote is an excerpt from a letter written by President Calvin Coolidge, reflecting on the death of his son and the implications it had on his presidency. Coolidge mentions that his son Calvin had great potential and intellect, proven by his academic achievements, but tragically passed away at a young age. He recounts an exchange between Calvin and a fellow laborer in a tobacco field, where Calvin revealed his understanding that circumstances could have been different had his father not been President. Coolidge expresses his sadness and the significance of his son's death as he believes it took away from the power and glory of the Presidency. He acknowledges that he may never comprehend the reasons behind such a high price paid for holding the highest office in the country.