Alvan T. Fuller

order1

50th

office1

Governor of Massachusetts

term start1

January 8, 1925

term end1

January 3, 1929

lieutenant1

Frank G. Allen

predecessor1

Channing H. Cox

successor1

Frank G. Allen

order2

48th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts

term start2

January 6, 1921

term end2

January 8, 1925

governor2

Channing H. Cox

predecessor2

Channing H. Cox

successor2

Frank G. Allen

state3

Massachusetts

district3

MA's 9th congressional district

term start3

March 4, 1917

term end3

January 5, 1921

predecessor3

Ernest W. Roberts

successor3

Charles L. Underhill

office4

Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives

term4

1914–1917

birth name

Alvan Tufts Fuller

birth date

February 27, 1878

birth place

Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

death date

April 30, 1958

death place

Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

spouse

Viola Theresa Davenport

children

4, including Peter D. Fuller

profession

Motor Car Dealer

party

Republican Progressive

Alvan Tufts Fuller (February 27, 1878 – April 30, 1958) was an American businessman, politician, art collector, and philanthropist from Massachusetts. He opened one of the first automobile dealerships in Massachusetts, which in 1920 was recognized as "the world's most successful auto dealership", and made him one of the state's wealthiest men. Politically a Progressive Republican, he was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1916, and served as a United States representative from 1917 to 1921.

From 1925 to 1929 Fuller was the 50th governor of Massachusetts, continuing the fiscally conservative and socially moderate policies of his predecessors. In 1927 he was enveloped in the international controversy surrounding the trial and execution of Sacco and Vanzetti, Italian immigrant anarchists convicted of robbery and murder. Fuller's handling of the affair, in which both domestic and international sources sought clemency for the two, effectively ended his political career.

Fuller was an avid collector of art, some of which has since been donated to museums in eastern New England, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He founded the Fuller Foundation, a charity that supports a variety of causes in eastern Massachusetts and the seacoast region of New Hampshire. Fuller Gardens, founded by him in North Hampton, New Hampshire, are now open to the public.

Early years

Alvan Tufts Fuller was born in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston on February 27, 1878, to working-class parents, Alvan Bond and Flora Arabella (Tufts) Fuller.

Political career

Congress

Fuller became interested in politics around 1912, supporting Theodore Roosevelt in his Bull Moose presidential bid. He refused the Progressive Party nomination for Governor of Massachusetts in 1912, but won election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1914 under its banner.[10] Joining the Republican Party in 1916, he served as a delegate to its convention in 1916. The same year, he ran for the United States House of Representatives as an independent, winning a 16-vote victory over longtime incumbent Republican Ernest W. Roberts.[11] He served two terms, in the Sixty-fifth and Sixty-sixth Congresses, from March 4, 1917, to January 5, 1921,[12] winning election to the second term by a wider margin as a Republican.[11]

Fuller was an outspoken proponent of reform within Congress, and as a matter of principle never cashed paychecks he received for his public service, or used the Congressional franking privilege.[11] He criticized the inefficient means by which legislation made its way through Congress, calling it "the most expensive barnacle that ever attached itself to the ship of state."[13] Criticisms such as these prompted President Woodrow Wilson to introduce a new and more centralized budgeting system in 1919.[13] Reforms Fuller proposed included a number of steps designed to increase transparency and reduce opportunities for political influence within the operations of Congress.[14]

In 1920, Fuller ran for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, and won two terms, serving as the 48th lieutenant governor from 1921 to 1925 alongside Governor Channing Cox. His principal opposition in both elections was in the Republican primary, where he was pitted against the Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Joseph E. Warner.[11] The Democrats were then relatively disorganized and lacking effective leadership, and were unable to counter the basic Republican message of "economy and sound administration" that had characterized recent elections.[15]

Governor

Fuller was elected 50th Governor in 1924[16] after Cox decided not run for reelection.[17] The 1924 election was against the colorful Mayor of Boston James Michael Curley. Fuller's campaign rhetoric focused on the excesses of what it called "Curleyism", which it likened to a "graft-ridden spending spree".[18] Curley attempted to tie Fuller to the Ku Klux Klan, but his charges were exposed as meritless – Fuller's wife was Roman Catholic (a group the Klan disliked), and Fuller was known to have contributed to Catholic charities.[11] Fuller was reelected by a substantial majority in 1926 over William A. Gaston, in a campaign dominated by Democratic calls for reform of Prohibition.[19] As he had while in Congress, Fuller refused compensation for his services.

Early years

Automotive business empire

Political career

Congress

Governor

Later years

Family and legacy

See also

Sources

External links

References