Editing Sherman Adams

{{Short description|67th governor of New Hampshire (1899–1986)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2011}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name         = Sherman Adams
|image        = GLSAAdams.jpg
|office       =2nd [[White House Chief of Staff]]
|president    = [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]
|term_start   = January 20, 1953
|term_end     = October 7, 1958
|predecessor  = [[John R. Steelman]]
|successor    = [[Wilton Persons]]
|office1      = 67th [[Governor of New Hampshire]]
|term_start1  = January 6, 1949
|term_end1    = January 1, 1953
|predecessor1 = [[Charles M. Dale]]
|successor1   = [[Hugh Gregg]]
|state2       = [[New Hampshire]]
|district2    = {{ushr|NH|2|2nd}}
|term_start2  = January 3, 1945
|term_end2    = January 3, 1947
|predecessor2 = [[Foster Waterman Stearns|Foster W. Stearns]]
|successor2   = [[Norris Cotton]]
|birth_name   = Llewelyn Sherman Adams
|birth_date   = {{birth date|1899|1|8}}
|birth_place  = [[East Dover, Vermont]], U.S.
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1986|10|27|1899|1|8}}
|death_place  = {{nowrap|[[Hanover, New Hampshire]], U.S.}}
|party        = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|spouse       = {{marriage|Rachel Leona White|July 28, 1923|December 16, 1979|end=d}}
|children     = 4
|education    = [[Dartmouth College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
|allegiance   = {{flag|United States|1912}}
|branch       = {{flag|United States Marine Corps|1914|name=Marine Corps}}
|battles      = [[World War I]]
}}
'''Llewelyn Sherman Adams''' (January 8, 1899 – October 27, 1986) was an American businessman and politician, best known as [[White House Chief of Staff]] for President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], the culmination of an 18-year political career that also included a stint as the 67th [[governor of New Hampshire]]. He lost his White House position in a scandal when he accepted an expensive [[vicuña wool|vicuña]] coat.<ref>Eleanora W. Schoenebaum, ed., ''Political Profiles: The Eisenhower Years'' (1977), pp. 4–7.</ref>

==Early life==
Born in [[East Dover, Vermont]] to [[grocer]] Clyde H. Adams and Winnie Marion Sherman,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0700418 |title=Adams, Sherman Llewelyn |last=Birkner |first=Michael J. |website=American National Biography |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0700418 |access-date=August 26, 2022}}</ref> Adams was educated in public schools in [[Providence, Rhode Island]], graduating from [[Hope High School (Rhode Island)|Hope High School]]. He received an undergraduate degree from [[Dartmouth College]] (1920), having taken time off briefly for a six-month [[World War I]] stint in the [[United States Marine Corps]]. While at Dartmouth, Adams helped found Cabin and Trail,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://outdoors.dartmouth.edu/doc/history.html | title=History of the DOC }}</ref> Dartmouth's influential hiking club, and was a member of the New Hampshire Alpha chapter of the [[Sigma Alpha Epsilon]] fraternity.<ref>{{cite book|title=Dartmouth College Aegis|year=1920|publisher=Dartmouth College|location=Hanover, NH|page=237}}</ref>   He then went into the lumber business, first in [[Mount Holly, Vermont|Healdville, Vermont]] (1921), then to a combined lumber and paper business in [[Lincoln, New Hampshire]]. He also was involved in banking.

==Political beginnings==
Adams entered state politics in New Hampshire as a [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] legislator (1941–44; Speaker of the House, 1944). He served a term in the [[United States House of Representatives]] (1945–47), making a failed effort to capture the 1946 Republican gubernatorial nomination in New Hampshire. He lost to incumbent [[Charles M. Dale]].  Adams won the governorship two years later, in 1948.

==New Hampshire governorship==
When Adams took office as governor, New Hampshire was suffering post-war recession. He called for frugality and thrift in both personal and state expenditures. Retirees were (and are) a significant part of New Hampshire's population; Adams called for increased state aid for the aged, and for legislation which would enable the state's [[senior citizen|senior]]s to qualify for [[Federal Old Age & Survivors Insurance]]. In 1950 he formed a Reorganization Committee to recommend changes in state operations, and he called for the legislature to act on the recommendations. It was during his time as Governor that the New Hampshire Right to Work law (which prevented people being forced to join unions) was repealed.

Adams's clipped New Hampshire twang and calls for frugality made him a virtual poster boy for Republican [[balanced budget]] values of the time. He served as chairman of the [[U.S. Conference of Governors]] (1951–52).

==1952 campaign==
Adams took charge of the Eisenhower campaign in the New Hampshire primary, winning all the delegates to the national convention. He campaigned for Eisenhower across the country, was Eisenhower's floor leader at the convention in battling against Senator Robert A. Taft, and impressed Eisenhower with his hard work, mastery of detail, and skill in political maneuvering. He became the campaign manager for the 1952 presidential campaign, where he was always at Eisenhower's side.  He was the obvious choice for White House Chief of Staff—and was the first person in this position to hold the explicit title of "Chief of Staff," which Eisenhower had copied from military practice.<ref>Schoenebaum, ed., ''Political Profiles: The Eisenhower Years'' (1977), p. 5.</ref>

==White House Chief of Staff==
Eisenhower adopted the military model, which emphasizes the importance of the Chief of Staff in handling all of the paperwork and preliminary decisions.  With rare exceptions, anyone who spoke with Eisenhower had to have Adams'  prior approval.  Adams took his role as Chief of Staff very seriously; with the exception of Cabinet members and certain NSC advisors, all requests for access to Eisenhower had to go through his office. This alienated traditional Republican Party leaders.

Adams was one of the most powerful men in Washington during the six years he served as chief of staff. Because of Eisenhower's highly formalized staff structure, it appeared to many that he had virtual control over White House staff operations and domestic policy (a 1956 article in ''Time'' entitled "OK, S.A." advanced this perception). The extent of internal strife between strong-willed personalities was chronicled in his 1961 memoir ''First Hand Report.'' Among the heated conflicts within the Eisenhower administration were the best method to handle flamboyant personalities such as U.S. Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]], whom Adams and Eisenhower decided to torpedo when McCarthy started attacking the U.S. Army. Adams was a frequent broker of such controversies. Adams was willing to make the partisan comments that Eisenhower stood aloof from, thus making Adams the main target of the Democrats. Adams generally stood with the liberal wing of the Republican Party, in opposition to the conservative wing of Taft and Barry Goldwater. Eisenhower often depended upon him for the evaluation of candidates for top-level appointments.  Adams handled much of the  patronage and appointments that Eisenhower found boring and also was in charge of firing people when he deemed it necessary.<ref>Schoenebaum, ed., ''Political Profiles: The Eisenhower Years'' (1977), pp. 5–6.</ref>

Movie critic [[Michael Medved]] wrote a book on Presidential aides called ''The Shadow Presidents,'' that stated Adams was probably the most powerful chief of staff in history. He told of a joke that circulated around Washington in the 1950s. Two Democrats were talking and one said "Wouldn't it be terrible if Eisenhower died and [[Richard Nixon|Nixon]] became President?" The other replied "Wouldn't it be terrible if Sherman Adams died and Eisenhower became President!"

He had a reputation for negativity, endorsing many submissions with a simple "No".  This caused him to become known as "The Abominable No Man."

===Scandal===
Adams was forced to resign in 1958, when a House subcommittee revealed Adams had accepted an expensive [[vicuña]] overcoat and [[oriental rug]]<ref name=autogenerated1>[http://www.nndb.com/people/357/000094075/ Sherman Adams<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> from Bernard Goldfine, a Boston textile manufacturer who was being investigated for [[Federal Trade Commission]] violations. Goldfine, who had business with the federal government, was cited for contempt of Congress when he refused to answer questions regarding his relationship with Adams.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crisispapers.org/blogs-ep/409.htm|title=Ernest Partridge's Blogs Archive|date=September 30, 2004|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051201101912/http://www.crisispapers.org/blogs-ep/409.htm|archive-date=December 1, 2005|df=mdy-all}}<br/>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyforsale.com/html/prodetails.asp?documentid=26624&start=1&page=150|title=SHERMAN "THE ICEBERG" ADAMS – TYPED LETTER SIGNED 10/08/1956 – DOCUMENT 26624}}</ref> The story was first reported to the public by [[muckraking]] journalist [[Jack Anderson (columnist)|Jack Anderson]].

Vice President Richard Nixon stated that he was assigned the onerous responsibility of telling Adams that he had to resign.  He regretted the necessity, as Adams' career in politics ended and he went off "to operate a ski lodge" without any judicial findings.  In [[the Nixon interviews]], Nixon argued that he was unable to fire the White House staffers involved in the Watergate scandal, much as President Eisenhower was unable to directly fire Adams.<ref>Interview with David Frost included with the 2008 DVD re-release of the original 1977 Nixon interviews.</ref> However, according to ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'''s September 29, 1958, article on Adams, the job of firing Adams actually fell to [[Meade Alcorn]], not Nixon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821155,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131145406/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821155,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 31, 2011 |title=THE ADMINISTRATION: Exit Adams|publisher=Time Magazine|date=September 29, 1958|access-date=September 11, 2012}}</ref>

==Post-political life==
Adams returned to [[Lincoln, New Hampshire]], where he started construction on [[Loon Mountain Ski Resort|Loon Mountain]], today one of the largest [[ski]] resorts in New England. He was also a member of the [[Society of Colonial Wars]] and the [[Sons of the American Revolution]].

Adams died in 1986. His remains are buried at Riverside Cemetery in Lincoln.<ref name=autogenerated1/>

==Family==
Adams was married to Rachel Leona White in 1923. They had one son, Samuel, and three daughters, Jean, Sarah and Marion.<ref name=autogenerated1/>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [[List of Freemasons]]
* [[List of members of the American Legion]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Anderson, Patrick. ''The Presidents' Men; White House Assistants of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson'' (1968)
* Thompson, Robert J. "Contrasting Models of White House Staff Organization: The Eisenhower, Ford, and Carter Experiences." ''Congress & the Presidency: A Journal of Capital Studies'' (1992) 19#2

===Primary sources===
* Adams, Sherman. ''First-Hand Report: The Story of the Eisenhower Administration'' (1961)

==External links==
*[http://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/944 The Papers of Sherman Adams] at Dartmouth College Library
*[http://eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Finding_Aids/A.html Records of Sherman Adams, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library]
*[http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/glikeness/adamsher.html Publications – A Guide to Likenesses of New Hampshire Officials and Governors on Public Display at the Legislative Office Building and the State House Concord, New Hampshire, to 1998] New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources
{{CongBio|A000046}} Retrieved on 2008-04-02
*{{Find a Grave|6624131}}

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{{s-off}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Speaker of the [[New Hampshire House of Representatives]]|years=1943–1945}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Norris Cotton]]}}
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{{s-ttl|title=[[Governor of New Hampshire]]|years=1949–1953}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Foster Waterman Stearns|Foster W. Stearns]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Member of the [[List of United States Representatives from New Hampshire|U.S. House of Representatives]]<br />from [[New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district]]|years=1945–1947}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Norris Cotton]]}}
|-
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Charles M. Dale]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for [[Governor of New Hampshire]]|years=[[1948 New Hampshire gubernatorial election|1948]], [[1950 New Hampshire gubernatorial election|1950]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Hugh Gregg]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Governors of New Hampshire}}
{{WHCOS}}
{{Eisenhower cabinet}}
{{Authority control}}

== External links ==

{{commons category|Sherman Adams}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Sherman}}
[[Category:1899 births]]
[[Category:1986 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century United States Marines]]
[[Category:20th-century American Episcopalians]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the New Hampshire General Court]]
[[Category:People from Dover, Vermont]]
[[Category:Assistants to the president of the United States]]
[[Category:Dartmouth College alumni]]
[[Category:Eisenhower administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:General Society of Colonial Wars]]
[[Category:Republican Party governors of New Hampshire]]
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[[Category:Members of the Sons of the American Revolution]]
[[Category:Speakers of the New Hampshire House of Representatives]]
[[Category:White House chiefs of staff]]
[[Category:Sigma Alpha Epsilon members]]