Alva B. Adams

Alva Blanchard Adams Sr. (October 29, 1875 – December 1, 1941) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician from Pueblo, Colorado. He served nine years as a United States senator from Colorado, serving by appointment from 1923 to 1924, then serving again from 1933 until his death in 1941. He was the first U.S. senator from Colorado who was born in Colorado. He is the namesake of the Alva B. Adams Tunnel under Rocky Mountain National Park.

His father, Alva Adams, and uncle, Billy Adams, both served as governors of Colorado.

Early life and education Alva B. Adams was born October 29, 1875, in Del Norte, Colorado Territory. During his childhood, his father, Alva Adams, was elected the fifth governor of Colorado, and later was elected to two more non-consecutive terms. Alva B. Adams was raised and received his early education in Colorado, but for high school he was sent to the Phillips Academy in Massachusetts, where he graduated in 1893. He then attended Yale University, graduating in 1896, and went on to the Columbia Law School, where he earned his law degree in 1899.

Early career He returned to Colorado after completing his education and was admitted to the bar later that year, beginning a law practice in Pueblo, Colorado. Throughout his early adulthood, Alva Adams's father remained highly active in politics as a leader of the Colorado Democratic Party.

In 1909, Alva B. Adams became county attorney of Pueblo County, Colorado. In 1911, he was appointed a regent of the State University of Colorado and was elected city attorney of Pueblo. In 1918, Adams was commissioned as a major in the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, where he served through the end of the war. At that convention, Adams was courted as a potential candidate for governor, but refused to run. In 1921, Adams was appointed to another special commission to Washington, D.C., this time seeking flood relief.

U.S. Senate In March 1923, incumbent U.S. senator Samuel D. Nicholson died after a long illness. Adams was immediately mentioned as a potential successor, alongside U.S. representative Edward T. Taylor. Within 24 hours of Nicholson's death, news leaked that the governor, William Ellery Sweet, had already more-or-less made up his mind to appoint Adams, due in large part to the influence of Adams's uncle, Billy Adams, who by then was a powerful state senator. The leak of Adams's name, however, provoked a significant backlash from pro-prohibition elements in the state. After the backlash, Governor Sweet announced he would not make an appointment for several weeks; during that time several more names were floated for the position. Ultimately, Governor Sweet returned to his initial choice, and Adams was appointed United States senator on May 17, 1923. Adams's appointment made him the first U.S. Senator from Colorado to have been born in the state.

Adams's appointment to the Senate was only for the period until the next general election, in November 1924, when a special election would be held for the remaining two years of Nicholson's term. Adams, however, declined to run in the 1924 special election, opting to instead run in the regularly scheduled 1924 U.S. senate election for a full six-year term against Republican incumbent Lawrence C. Phipps. The Democrats ultimately lost both U.S. Senate elections; Adams received just 44% of the vote.

In 1932, upon the decision of Senator Charles W. Waterman not to seek re-election, Adams ran to succeed him, with Oscar L. Chapman 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, also known as a heart attack, in Washington, D.C. in 1941, just days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Committee assignments Alva B. Adams was first appointed to the U.S. Senate 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 at the beginning of the 73rd Congress, he was appointed to several standing committees. Overall, he served on five standing committees and three select or special committees. Adams also served as chairman of the Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation during the 73rd and 74th Congresses and chaired the Committee on Public Lands and Surveys from the 75th through 77th Congresses. Committee Congresses