1. Llewelyn Sherman Adams was an American businessman and politician, best known as White House Chief of Staff for President Dwight D Eisenhower, the culmination of an 18-year political career that included a stint as the 67th governor of New Hampshire.
Sherman Adams lost his White House position in a scandal when he accepted an expensive vicuna coat.
Sherman Adams received an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College, having taken time off briefly for a six-month World War I stint in the United States Marine Corps.
Sherman Adams then went into the lumber business, first in Healdville, Vermont, then to a combined lumber and paper business in Lincoln, New Hampshire.
Sherman Adams entered state politics in New Hampshire as a Republican legislator.
Sherman Adams served a term in the United States House of Representatives, making a failed effort to capture the 1946 Republican gubernatorial nomination in New Hampshire.
When Sherman Adams took office as governor, New Hampshire was suffering post-war recession.
Sherman Adams called for frugality and thrift in both personal and state expenditures.
Sherman Adams's clipped New Hampshire twang and calls for frugality made him a virtual poster boy for Republican balanced budget values of the time.
Sherman Adams served as chairman of the US Conference of Governors.
Sherman Adams took charge of the Eisenhower campaign in the New Hampshire primary, winning all the delegates to the national convention.
Sherman Adams campaigned for Eisenhower across the country, was Eisenhower's floor leader at the convention in battling against Senator Robert A Taft, and impressed Eisenhower with his hard work, mastery of detail, and skill in political maneuvering.
Sherman Adams became the campaign manager for the 1952 presidential campaign, where he was always at Eisenhower's side.
Sherman Adams took his role as Chief of Staff very seriously; with the exception of Cabinet members and certain NSC advisors, all requests for access to Eisenhower had to go through his office.
Sherman Adams was one of the most powerful men in Washington during the six years he served as chief of staff.
Sherman Adams was willing to make the partisan comments that Eisenhower stood aloof from, thus making Sherman Adams the main target of the Democrats.
Sherman Adams generally stood with the liberal wing of the Republican Party, in opposition to the conservative wing of Taft and Barry Goldwater.
Sherman Adams handled much of the patronage and appointments that Eisenhower found boring and was in charge of firing people when he deemed it necessary.
Movie critic Michael Medved wrote a book on Presidential aides called The Shadow Presidents, that stated Sherman Adams was probably the most powerful chief of staff in history.
Sherman Adams told of a joke that circulated around Washington in the 1950s.
Sherman Adams had a reputation for negativity, endorsing many submissions with a simple "No".
Sherman Adams was forced to resign in 1958, when a House subcommittee revealed Sherman Adams had accepted an expensive vicuna overcoat and oriental rug from Bernard Goldfine, a Boston textile manufacturer who was being investigated for Federal Trade Commission violations.
Sherman Adams regretted the necessity, as Adams' career in politics ended and he went off "to operate a ski lodge" without any judicial findings.
Sherman Adams returned to Lincoln, New Hampshire where he started construction on Loon Mountain, today one of the largest ski resorts in New England.
Sherman Adams was a member of the Society of Colonial Wars and the Sons of the American Revolution.
Sherman Adams's remains are buried at Riverside Cemetery, in Lincoln.