Coolidge was born in the Deering Center area of Portland, Maine. He was brother of Massachuestts politician and Lieutenant Governor Arthur W. Coolidge. He was the fourth cousin of President Calvin Coolidge.[4]
Coolidge graduated from Tufts College in 1902 and served as a trustee of the school from 1924 to 1944 and from 1953 to 1957.[5] He attended Harvard Law School.
From 1920 to 1922, Coolidge represented Medford and Winchester in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he served as the clerk of the judiciary committee.[7] Coolidge served as the mayor of Medford, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, from 1923 to 1926.[8] He later served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention from Massachusetts in 1928.