Alva Blanchard Adams (October 29, 1875 – December 1, 1941) was a Democratic politician who represented Colorado in the United States Senate from 1923 until 1924 and again from 1933 to 1941.[1]
During World War I, 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 caused by the death of Samuel D. Nicholson. 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, 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, 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.
Alva 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.[3]