Coolidge dined annually with the assistant secretaries of the various cabinet departments (and the undersecretaries of State and Treasury, which used the latter title).
Dubbed the “Little Cabinet” during the Harding Administration, the group found its roots in the “Tennis Cabinet” of Teddy Roosevelt’s White House. While not a formal organization, the Little Cabinet met monthly to facilitate interdepartmental communication and cooperation.
In his 1923 speech to the group, Coolidge praised its members for their devotion to public service. Their efforts were most valuable, at least to their superiors, during the hot Washington summers, when Little Cabinet members temporarily took the reigns from their vacationing premiers.
