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WADSWORTH, James Wolcott, Jr. (1877-1952)
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Senate Years of Service: 1915-1927

WADSWORTH, JAMES WOLCOTT, JR., (son of James Wadsworth and father-in-law of Stuart Symington), a Senator and a Representative from New York; born in Geneseo, N.Y., August 12, 1877; received preparatory education at St. Mark's School, Southboro, Mass.; graduated from Yale University in 1898; during the Spanish-American War served as a private in the Puerto Rican campaign in 1898; engaged in livestock and agricultural pursuits near Geneseo, N.Y., and as manager of a ranch in Texas 1911-1915; member, New York State assembly 1905-1910, serving as speaker 1906-1910; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1914; reelected in 1920 and served from March 4, 1915, to March 3, 1927; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1926; chairman, Committee on Military Affairs (Sixty-sixth through Sixty-ninth Congresses); Republican whip 1915; resumed agricultural pursuits; elected to the Seventy-third and to the eight succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1933-January 3, 1951); was not a candidate for renomination in 1950; appointed by President Harry Truman chairman of the National Security Training Commission in 1951 and served until his death in Washington, D.C., June 21, 1952; interment in Temple Hill Cemetery, Geneseo, N.Y.

Brooklyn Historical Society
Brooklyn, NY
Papers: March 26, 1910. 1 letter.
Columbia University
Oral History Project
New York, NY
Oral History: 1952. 458 pages. Permission required to cite or quote.
Columbia University
Rare Book and Manuscript Library
New York, NY
Papers: 8 letters (1925) in the Herbert Parsons collection.
Cornell University
Rare Books and Manuscript Collections
Ithaca, NY
Papers: Correspondence in Hyde family papers, 1863-1957; and Civil Service Reform Association records, 1880-1947.
Herbert Hoover Library
West Branch, IA
Papers: 1921-1927. 2 folders.
Library of Congress
Manuscript Division
Washington, DC
Papers: In James Wadsworth family papers, 1730-1953. 22 linear feet. Bulk of material concerns his congressional career and political activities. Finding aid.
Additional Papers: Correspondence in Breckinridge family papers, 1752-1965. Finding aid.
New-York Historical Society
New York, NY
Papers: 1912-1940. 21 letters. Finding aid.
New York State Library
Manuscripts and Special Collections
Albany, NY
Papers: 1937-1951. 27 letters.
State University of New York
College at Geneseo Milne Library
Geneseo, NY
Papers: In Wadsworth family papers, 1789-1952. 145 feet. Includes business and family correspondence, account books, maps, deeds, leases, and business records. Permission of college archivist required. Finding aid.

  • Fausold, Martin L. James W. Wadsworth, Jr.: The Gentleman from New York. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1975.
  • Hatch, Alden. The Wadsworths of the Genesee. New York: Coward-McCann, 1959.
  • Holthusen, Henry Frank. James W. Wadsworth, Jr.: A Biographical Sketch. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1926.
  • Porter, David L. "The Man Who Made the Draft--Representative James Wadsworth.'' Aerospace Historian 22 (Spring 1975): 29-32.