I am equally determined to defend the sovereignty of Massachusetts and to maintain the authority and jurisdiction over her public officers where it has been placed by the Constitution and laws of her people.""Telegram from Governor Calvin Coolidge to Samuel Gompers", September 14, 1919[64]

Coolidge, sensing the severity of circumstances were then in need of his intervention, conferred with Crane's operative, William Butler, and then acted.[65] He called up more units of the National Guard, restored Curtis to office, and took personal control of the police force.[66] Curtis proclaimed that all of the strikers were fired from their jobs, and Coolidge called for a new police force to be recruited.[67]
That night Coolidge received a telegram from AFL leader Samuel Gompers. "Whatever disorder has occurred", Gompers wrote, "is due to Curtis's order in which the right of the policemen has been denied…"[68] Coolidge publicly answered Gompers's telegram, denying any justification whatsoever for the strike – and his response launched him into the national consciousness.[68] Newspapers across the nation picked up on Coolidge's statement and he became the newest hero to opponents of the strike. 