Calvin
Coolidge’s terms in the Massachusetts Senate coincided with the beginning of
World War I in Europe (1912 – 1915). The great debate about America’s role and
participation in the conflict began. The Massachusetts legislature appointed a
Committee to Study Preparedness in 1915.
The Hampshire Gazette reported on a union
service at the Methodist Church marking a day of prayer for peace in its October
5, 1914 issue. Among State Senator Coolidge’s reported remarks were these:
“Science,
while it makes men wiser, makes the instruments of destruction more deadly…
Therefore, it seems that the only hope for permanent peace is to be found in
the hearts of men.”