VICE PRESIDENT ROUTED FROM HOTEL FIRE, BLOCKED FROM RETURNING TO ROOM

A general alarm fire broke out in the ballroom atop the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., and the blaze routed guests - including the Vice President of the U.S.

As the time passed, he grew tired of waiting in the street and decided to return to his hotel room.

As he headed for the stairs, a fireman demanded identification.

"I am the Vice President," he said.

The fireman asked: "Vice President of what?"

"Vice President of the United States," Calvin Coolidge said.

"Then get back here," the fireman said. "I thought you were Vice President of the hotel."

The fire occurred in 1922. Coolidge, of course, went on the become president, earning a little more respect.