I don’t buy it. Coolidge handled a depression in the early 1920’s masterfully and discharged his responsibilities during his term. I think that if his father in law really said this he was covering for Franklin Roosevelt in a variant of the “Blame Bush” trope we have been hearing for years.
Well Bush...how about defending America from lefty commies? No...you have more important things to do like mountain hiking and hanging-out with slick willie.
The 1922 recession was over when Coolidge became president in August 1923. Coolidge may have privately voted for Al Smith over Hoover. He once said that Hoover had given him unsolicited information ad infinitum, “all of it bad.”