The only one of his private secretaries who served him for the whole of the time that he was in federal office, Edward Tracy Clark (1878-1935) began working for Coolidge when Coolidge was President Harding's vice president, and continued his service through Coolidge's second presidential term, in all, a span of eight years. The job of presidential secretary combined personal and professional assignments of a highly delicate and demanding nature, requiring great skill and discretion. Clark was so highly regarded that, following Coolidge's term of office, President Herbert Hoover invited him to return briefly as his presidential secretary.
Complementing the mini-archive of fifty nine presidential speeches included in the Coolidge-Consumerism collection from the papers of Everett Sanders, another of Coolidge's private secretaries, the three Coolidge speeches selected from Edward Clark's papers date to the vice-presidential period. One of them, delivered in 1921 to New England Bankers, specifically takes up economic matters. But all three addresses, like virtually all of Coolidge's speeches, no matter what the ostensible occasion or subject, highlight the importance of spiritual development. (INTRO NOTE Spirituality)
After serving Presidents Coolidge and Hoover, Clark also worked as a consultant on legislative, customs and tariff matters for various business concerns in Washington, D.C. His papers include more than fifty letters which Coolidge wrote to him after leaving the White House (not included in this collection), which convey the impression of an extraordinarily cordial relationship between the two men. (INTRO NOTE The Coolidge Presidency)