In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

  • Cooperation Versus Combativeness: Carl Hayden, Wayne Aspinall, and the Final Passage of the Central Arizona Project
  • Matt McCoy (bio)

Arizona fought for forty years to secure the state’s share of the Colorado River with the Central Arizona Project (CAP). At the forefront of the battle every step of the way was Carl Hayden. Hayden was a staunch supporter of water projects throughout the West and committed to the idea that the federal government should assist the region’s growth by helping to harness natural resources. As long-time chairman of the Senate appropriations committee, he backed projects in other states while fighting for the CAP, all the time collecting favors that he expected would be repaid one day. After shepherding the project through a maze of obstacles stretching over four decades, Hayden ran into one final obstacle from a curious place. New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, and especially Colorado feared that construction of the CAP would cost them water and united behind Coloradan Wayne Aspinall, chairman of the House Interior Committee. The battle between Hayden and Aspinall, both Democrats, reflected each man’s particular outlook on politics and western water projects. Both men feared losing water if they did not fight for it. But Hayden, a consensus politician by nature, sought to win the fight through building relationships. Aspinall, who was much more confrontational, made himself the face of his region’s resistance, while at the same time furthering his district’s interests. [End Page 263]

Arizona went through massive changes after statehood in 1912, but through them all, there was one constant: Senator Carl Hayden. Hayden came from a pioneer family and was arguably the best-known figure in Arizona. He was born in a tiny adobe house in Hayden’s Ferry in 1877. He won election as Maricopa County sheriff in 1906 and, in 1911, voters elected him to be the new state’s first representative. He served in the House until winning election to the Senate in 1926, where he remained until his retirement in 1969. By the 1960s, he enjoyed enormous respect in Washington and in Arizona among both Republicans and Democrats, and he had tremendous power as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee from 1955 to 1969. Yet he was a quiet politician who preferred to let his accomplishments speak louder than his rhetoric. Hayden biographer Ross Rice writes, “He did not seek personal publicity, but rather avoided it. He became a master of working behind the scenes and using the inherent power of the congressional committee system to wield enormous influence.”1 Historian Philip VanderMeer describes Hayden as driven by a belief in the need to develop Arizona. “Like other western politicians, he saw many ways the federal government could assist this goal, and he pursued those opportunities in Plunkitt-like fashion.”2

As chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, he had plenty of opportunities to shepherd projects important to his home state. Historian Gerald Nash points out that Arizonans could complain about “federal interference” without fear of actually losing money so long as Hayden was in charge of appropriations.3 So ubiquitous was he to Arizonans that when asked to name the three branches of government, one twelve-year-old girl responded, “The President, the Superb Court, and Mr. Carl Hayden.”4

Wayne Aspinall’s career in many respects mirrored Hayden’s. Born in 1896 in Ohio, his family moved to the western Colorado [End Page 264] town of Palisade in 1904. Like Hayden, Aspinall spent most of his adult life in politics, winning election to the Colorado House of Representatives in 1930. He moved on to the state senate in 1939 and then to the U.S. House in 1949, representing the Western Slope’s Fourth District. Once elected, Aspinall had his eyes set on one particular assignment. In the words of one of his biographers, Stephen Schulte, “Believing he had been sent to Washington in part to advocate for Western Slope water rights, he quickly sought a position on the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, hoping one day to chair it.” So important did he consider this post that he declined an opportunity to move to the more...

pdf

Share