Happy 151st Birthday, Mr. Coolidge!

Six employees of the famous Dugan Brothers Bakery in New York arrive to present the larger of two elaborately designed birthday cakes delivered on July 3, 1929 to commemorate Calvin Coolidge’s birthday on the following day, July 4. The second cake with pink, green, and white candles, lovingly crafted and carefully shipped by Lee Ping Quan (the former cook aboard the USS Mayflower) and his restaurant staff out of New York City, joined a 24-pound Canadian salmon and hundreds of birthday wishes from all over the country. The former President, noting that the three reporters who came to call on the 5th of July looked hungry, cut them huge slices with a steak knife during their visit. Photo credit: Forbes Library.

Dugan Brothers Bakery, long renowned for its delectable pastries, breads, cakes, and other home-delivered offerings, also brought (in addition to the massive 2 foot+ diameter cake pictured here) large bouquets for Mrs. Coolidge and private secretary Miss Mae Hayes along with this wonderfully kind note:

“Honorable Calvin Coolidge, our dear friend and neighbor:

“Our high regard for you makes it a great honor and delight to bring you our loving congratulations and wishes and to present to you this humble gift in the name of our co-workers and the firm. It has been a great help, blessing, and satisfaction from time to time to muse on your lessons of moderation, frugality, and all else that is right for time and eternity. Your fine example has given greatly added weight to your precepts. We have always felt you were near to the lowly. This has relieved us from the embarrassment and timidity in this happy journey from Long Island. Having absolute confidence in you with affectionate regard, naturally takes you to our hearts with the beloved Washington and Lincoln. Our affection for you will continue past the dawn of the ‘perfect day.’

“In sincerity your friends, our co-workers, and ourselves.”

Happy 151st Birthday Mr. Coolidge!