Alva Blanchard Adams (October 29, 1875 – December 1, 1941) was a
Democratic politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...
who represented
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
in the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
from 1923 until 1924 and again from 1933 to 1941.
Biography
Adams was born in
Del Norte, Colorado
Del Norte is a Statutory Town that is the county seat of Rio Grande County, Colorado, United States. The town's name is most commonly pronounced /ˈdɛl nɔɹt/. The town population was 1,458 at the 2020 United States Census.
History
Del Norte ...
and graduated from
Phillips Academy in 1893,
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
in 1896, and
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
in 1899. He became a county attorney in
Pueblo County, Colorado
Pueblo County ( or ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 168,162. The county seat is Pueblo. The county was named for the historic city of Pueblo which took its name from the Spanish lan ...
in 1909, a regent of the
State University of Colorado in 1911, and
Pueblo
In the Southwestern United States, Pueblo (capitalized) refers to the Native tribes of Puebloans having fixed-location communities with permanent buildings which also are called pueblos (lowercased). The Spanish explorers of northern New Spain ...
city attorney in 1911.
During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Adams served as a major in the Judge Advocate General's department in 1918 and 1919. In 1923, he was appointed to fill the vacancy in the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
caused by the death of
Samuel D. Nicholson
Samuel Danford Nicholson (1859March 24, 1923) was a United States senator from Colorado.
Nicholson was born on Feb. 22, 1859 in Springfield, Prince Edward Island, Springfield, Prince Edward Island, British North America, he attended the public ...
. Adams's appointment made him the first U.S. Senator from Colorado to have been born in the state. Nicholson's death triggered a special election in
1924
Events
January
* January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after.
* January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...
, but Adams did not run in the special election. Instead, he challenged Republican Senator
Lawrence C. Phipps for re-election in the
regularly scheduled election held on the same day, losing by a wide margin. In
1932
Events January
* January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.
* January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hiro ...
, upon the decision of Senator
Charles W. Waterman not to seek re-election, Adams ran to succeed him, with
Oscar L. Chapman
Oscar Littleton Chapman (October 22, 1896 – February 8, 1978) was the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, during President Truman's administration, from 1949 to 1953.
Early life and career
Chapman was born in Omega, Halifax County, Virgin ...
managing his campaign, and narrowly won the Democratic primary over former state Attorney General John T. Barnett. Waterman died before his term expired, creating a vacancy, but Adams declined to be appointed to the seat and was not a candidate in the special election. Accordingly, state party chairman
Walter Walker was appointed to the seat. In the election, Adams narrowly defeated Republican nominee
Karl C. Schuyler, but Walker narrowly lost to Schuyler in the special election. Adams was re-elected in
1938 in a landslide. He died in office from a
myocardial infarction
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...
, also known as a heart attack, in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
in 1941, just days before the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...
.
The
Alva B. Adams Tunnel
The Alva B. Adams Tunnel is the principal component of the largest transmountain water project in Colorado, the Colorado-Big Thompson Project (C-BT). The tunnel transfers water from the western slope of the Colorado River drainage to the eastern F ...
under
Rocky Mountain National Park is named for him. The Alva B. Adams tunnel is the key component of the largest transmountain water diversion in the state of Colorado—the
Colorado-Big Thompson Project (C-BT). The tunnel is 13.1 miles (21.1 km) long and has a concrete lined diameter of 9.75 feet (2.97 m). The tunnel runs in a straight line under the
Continental Divide from west to east and passing under
Rocky Mountain National Park. Senator Adams' father,
Alva Adams, served as the
Governor of the State of Colorado 1887–1889, 1897–1899, and 1905. Senator Adams' uncle,
William Herbert "Billy" Adams, served as the Governor of Colorado 1927–1933. His grandfather,
John Adams
John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before his presidency, he was a leader of t ...
, was a member of the
Wisconsin State Assembly
The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin.
Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...
and the
Wisconsin State Senate
The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the larger Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after t ...
.
The
Orman-Adams House in Pueblo, where Alva B. Adams lived from 1918 until his death in 1941, is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
[ With ]
Committee assignments
Alva Adams was first appointed to the
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
to fill a vacancy during the first session of the
68th Congress. Even though he had been appointed in May 1923, Congress did not convene its first session until December of that year. A first edition of the Official Congressional Directory indicates he did not serve on any committees that session.
After Adams was elected in 1932 to the
73rd Congress, he was appointed to several standing committees. Overall, he served on five
standing committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
s and three
select or special committees.
Adams also served as chairman of the
Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation during the
73rd and
74th Congress
The 74th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1935, ...
es and chaired the
Committee on Public Lands and Surveys from the
75th through
77th Congresses.
See also
*
List of United States senators from Colorado
*
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
*
List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)
References
External links
Retrieved on 2009-02-19
Alva B. Adams Tunnel*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Alva B.
United States Army personnel of World War I
Columbia Law School alumni
Yale University alumni
Phillips Academy alumni
People from Rio Grande County, Colorado
Military personnel from Colorado
Democratic Party United States senators from Colorado
1940 United States vice-presidential candidates
1875 births
1941 deaths
Colorado Democrats
People from Pueblo, Colorado