Warren G. Harding's mysterious death in San Francisco thrust Calvin Coolidge, the taciturn Vermont native, into the Oval Office. It was a sweltering summer evening when Coolidge, 51, received the fateful call at his family's Plymouth Notch farmhouse. As news spread, Americans awaited the dawn of a new era under the thrifty, no-nonsense leader. Suddenly, Silent Cal was the country's loudest voice.