Description

Senator Carl Trumbull Hayden (b. 1877 – d. 1972) was born October 2, 1877 in Tempe, Arizona and died January 25, 1972 in Mesa, Arizona. He was the son of Charles Trumbull Hayden (b. 1825 – d. 1900), and Sally Calvert Davis. His father was a pioneering rancher and mill owner who founded the town of Hayden’s Ferry, later named Tempe, in the Salt River Valley.

Hayden attended Stanford University but left in 1900 when his father became ill to help run the family’s flour milling business. First elected to public office in 1902, he rose to prominence after 1906 as the gun-toting sheriff of Maricopa County. In 1910 he famously captured a fleeing band of train robbers by pursuing them first in a rail car, then on horseback, and finally by commandeering an Apperson-Jackrabbit automobile, which he rode on the rail lines to gain speed. That exploit helped him win his first election to Congress.

Arizona became the 48th state on February 14, 1912. Five days later Carl Hayden became the state’s first U.S. Representative.  He was first elected to the U.S. Senate from Arizona in 1927, serving until 1969. He was the first U.S. Senator to serve 7 terms. He served as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee from 1955 to 1969. He helped fund the era’s most vital programs, from the creation of the federal highway system to President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society initiatives. He was particularly notable for his focus on western land development and water transportation projects for his constituents.

Source:  www.senate.gov