Watkins, Arthur V. (Arthur Vivian), 1886-1973
Biography
Arthur V. Watkins was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, worked as a lawyer in Utah for several years before serving two terms as a United States Senator between 1946 and 1958, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee, and Chief Commissioner of the Indian Claims Commission.
Arthur Vivian Watkins was born in Midway, Utah on December 16, 1886, the first of eight children born to Arthur Watkins and Adelia (Gerber) Watkins. When he was not working on the farm, Arthur (or Vivian, as he was called at home) attended school with his siblings. In 1903, he began attending Brigham Young Academy in Provo, Utah, where he studied hard and participated in the Rialto Club, formed in 1903 to discuss economic and political issues. Arthur dropped out of school in 1906 to teach fourth and fifth grades. He taught for one year and was called to serve a mission in the Eastern States for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After completing his mission on September 17, 1910, he decided to stay in New York and continue his education. In 1912 he graduated from Columbia University Law School.
While in New York, Watkins met Andrea Rich, the daughter of his mission president, Ben E. Rich. After he passed the Utah bar exam in 1912, he and Andrea were married at the Salt Lake Temple on June 18, 1913 by President Joseph F. Smith.
Arthur and Andrea Watkins settled in Vernal, Utah where he practiced law and joined Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party. In 1915 Watkins accepted the appointment as Assistant County Attorney of Salt Lake County. While working at the County Attorney's office, he began building a private practice. Two years later, the Democrats won the election and he lost his appointment.
Watkins quit his private practice in 1922 due to health issues but soon set up another practice in American Fork, Utah. In 1925 the family moved to Orem so they could be closer to schools and the church. Watkins began another private practice in Provo. He was elected as Utah County judge in the Fourth District Court in 1928. He lost the reelection bid in 1930 and decided to merge his law practice with Raymond B. Holbrook. When Holbrook left, Watkins continued to practice on his own.
In 1946 Watkins was elected to the United States Senate. While in the Senate, he and his wife resided in Arlington, Virginia. He ran for reelection in 1952 and defeated the Democratic challenger, Congressman Walt Granger. In 1954, Senator Knowland, the Senate Majority Leader, appointed Watkins as the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee, which censured Senator Joseph R. McCarthy for his conduct in the Senate. Watkins later wrote a book, Enough Rope, describing his emotions and experiences during the McCarthy hearings and debates. Partly due to his involvement in the McCarthy hearings, he lost the election for U.S. Senator in 1958.
Arthur V. Watkins was very involved in the community and in church. He helped organize the Sharon's Cooperative Educational and Recreational Association (SCERA), a not-profit organization dedicated to providing educational recreational activities for youth in the area. He also became the director and general counsel for the Provo River Water User Association and worked with the Bureau of Reclamation and other organizations and agencies associated with the Water Users Association. The Willard Dam in Utah was later renamed the Arthur V. Watkins Dam in recognition of his work on the Bureau of Reclamation. Arthur also worked with Orem City on the Deer Creek project and Geneva Steel Plant project. At church, Watkins was called to served on the High Council, was active in the Young Men's program, and served as a stake president for eighteen years.
After his defeat in the campaign of 1958, Watkins was appointed a member of the Indian Claims Commission and later accepted the position of Chief Commissioner. In 1965, while in the Indian Claims Commission, he received the Abraham O. Smoot Public Service Award from Brigham Young University. He resigned as Chief Commissioner of the Indian Claims Commission at age 80 to spend more time with with his wife, who had contracted a serious heart condition. The next year Andrea Watkins died due to complications from a stroke a few years earlier. On March 1, 1972 he married Dorothy Eva Watkins. As lung cancer began to deteriorate his health, Watkins asked that he be moved to Orem to die where he passed away on September 1, 1973.
Citation:
Utah State memorial stone, 1951:p. 13 (Arthur V. Watkins, United State senator, state of Utah)LC in RLIN, 11-5-92(hdg.: Watkins, Arthur Vivian, 1886-)
Who was who in Amer.(Watkins, Arthur V.,b. 1886, d. 1973)
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, via WWW, March 5, 2014(Watkins, Arthur Vivian (1886-1973); a Senator from Utah; born in Midway, Wasatch County, Utah, December 18, 1886; attended the public schools, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1903-1906, and New York University, New York City, 1909-1910; graduated from Columbia University Law School, New York City, 1912; admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Vernal, Utah; engaged in newspaper work in 1914; assistant county attorney of Salt Lake County, 1914-1915; engaged in agricultural pursuits, 1919-1925; district judge of the fourth judicial district of Utah, 1928-1933; unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination to the Seventy-fifth Congress in 1936; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1946; reelected in 1952 and served from January 3, 1947, to January 3, 1959; was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1958; chairman, Select Committee on the Censure of Joseph McCarthy (Eighty-third Congress), co-chairman, Joint Committee on Navaho-Hopi Indian Administration (Eighty-third Congress), Joint Committee on Immigration and Naturalization Policy (Eighty-third Congress); member of the Indian Claims Commission, Washington, D.C., from August 1959 until retirement in September 1967; author; was a resident of Salt Lake City until he moved to Orem, Utah, in 1973 where he died September 1, 1973; interment in Eastlawn Memorial Hills)
Found in 118 Collections and/or Records:
Arthur V. Watkins papers on public lands, 1956-1958
Contains correspondence from 1954 to 1958, news clippings from 1952 to 1957, statements and notes from 1954 to 1956, and reports and bills S. 2067, S. 2629, H.R. 1254, H.R. 9131, and H.R. 10837 from 1954 to 1956 concerning public lands in the Western United States.
Arthur V. Watkins papers on public works, 1950-1959
Contains correspondence, clippings, proposals, and other materials related to public works in the United States, with a particular focus on water resource and land development. Includes information on water treatment and recreation. Materials date from between 1950 and 1959.
Arthur V. Watkins papers on Rainbow Bridge, 1969-1973
Contains correspondence, statements, and information from 1973 concerning the Rainbow Bridge in Utah, brochures concerning Rainbow Bridge from 1969 to 1971, correspondence from October 21, 1971, and a memo from December 2, 1970 regarding Rainbow Bridge.
Arthur V. Watkins papers on rainmaking, 1952-1958
Contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, press releases, congressional record reports, and bills from 1952 to 1958 concerning rainmaking, flooding of rivers and harbors, channel deepening and creation, bridge construction, and the Saint Lawrence Seaway. It also contains government documents about the Federal Navigation Program and the Corps of Engineers.
Arthur V. Watkins papers on reclamation, 1939-1970
Contains notes by Watkins for a book to be written on reclamation, correspondence, news clippings, notes, information, reports, and brochures from 1939 to 1970 concerning reclamation in the Western United States. It also contains the 1968 Commissioner's Report by the Bureau of Reclamation.
Arthur V. Watkins papers on reservoirs, 1950-1957
Contains correspondence from 1956 to 1957, congressional record reports from February to June 1957, and news clippings concerning reservoirs from 1956 to 1957. Also contain reports by members of the Seneca Nation of Indians concerning the Kinzua Dam and Reservoir in Pennsylvania from May 10, 1957 and pamphlets about public works projects and public water supply from 1950 to 1958.
Arthur V. Watkins papers on rivers and harbors, 1952-1958
Contains correspondence, articles, clippings, and other materials related to American rivers and harbors. Includes information on the management of these waterways, as well as flood control and transportation. Some of the files deal specifically with the Saint Lawrence Seaway. Materials date from between 1952 and 1958.
Arthur V. Watkins papers on S. Res. 301 from Senate Select Committee, 1954
Contains memorandums, statements, reports, minutes of hearings, arguments, correspondence, subpoenas, telegrams, vouchers, and debates regarding the censure to Senator Joseph McCarthy and S.Res. 301 that occurred during 1954. Also included is correspondence concerning senators Ralph E. Flanders and Wayne Morse.
Arthur V. Watkins papers on saline water conversion, 1955-1958
Contains correspondence and reports referring to the Saline Water Conservation Program from 1955 to 1956 as well as newspaper clippings from 1956 to 1957. Also included are the Third Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior from January 1955 and the congressional record and reports concerning the Saline Water Conservation Program from 1956 to 1958.
Arthur V. Watkins papers on Southern California opposition to Colorado River Storage Project, 1928-1957
Contains correspondence, news clippings, statements, addresses, and reports concerning opposition in Southern California to the Lower Basin Project. It also contains the abstract of Incorporation proceeding of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, congressional reports, and notes and information concerning the opposition in Southern California to the Lower Basin Project from 1928 to 1957.