Gordon Allott

{{Short description|United States Senator from Colorado (1907–1989)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Gordon Allott

|image = Senator Gordon Allott.jpg

|alt = Official portrait of Senator Allott

|jr/sr = United States Senator

|state = Colorado

|term_start = January 3, 1955

|term_end = January 3, 1973

|predecessor = Edwin C. Johnson

|successor = Floyd Haskell

|office1 = 33rd Lieutenant Governor of Colorado

|governor1 =Daniel I. J. Thornton

|term_start1 = January 9, 1951

|term_end1 = January 3, 1955

|predecessor1 = Charles P. Murphy

|successor1 = Stephen McNichols

|birth_name = Gordon Llewellyn Allott

|birth_date = {{birth date|1907|1|2}}

|birth_place = Pueblo, Colorado, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|1989|1|17|1907|1|2}}

|death_place = Englewood, Colorado, U.S.

|party = Republican

|education = University of Colorado, Boulder (BA, LLB)

|allegiance = {{flag|United States|1912}}

|branch = {{army|United States}}

|serviceyears = 1942–1946

|rank = Major

|battles = World War II

|unit = United States Army Air Corps

}}

Gordon Llewellyn Allott (January 2, 1907{{spaced ndash}}January 17, 1989) was a Republican American politician.

Biography

Allott was born in Pueblo, Colorado, to Bertha (née Llewellyn) and Leonard J. Allott. His maternal grandparents were Welsh and his paternal grandparents were English.

{{citation |url= https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXL8-CGM |title= United States Census, 1920 |website= FamilySearch |access-date=March 9, 2018 }} He graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1927 and from its law school in 1929. Allott was also an athlete in his youth, winning the 440 yd hurdles at the 1929 United States championships.{{cite news |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/us/wisconsin/sheboygan/sheboygan-press/1958/07-15/page-17 |title=Whatever Happened To... Gordon Allott |date=July 15, 1958 |access-date=November 17, 2014 |newspaper=The Sheboygan Press}}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/tafn-presults?list_id=36&sex_id=M&event_id=13 |title=A History Of The Results Of The National Track & Field Championships Of The USA From 1876 Through 2011 |author1=Mallon, Bill |author2=Buchanan, Ian |author3=Track & Field News |author3-link=Track & Field News |magazine=Track & Field News |access-date=November 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103003252/http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/tafn-presults?list_id=36&sex_id=M&event_id=13 |archive-date=November 3, 2014 |url-status=dead }} He was admitted to the bar in 1929 and commenced practice in Pueblo. He moved to Lamar, Colorado, in 1930 and continued practicing law.

Allott was the county attorney of Prowers County, Colorado, in 1934 and from 1941 to 1946. From 1934 to 1960, he was also the director of the First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Lamar. He became Lamar's city attorney in 1937, and served in this position until 1941.

During World War II, Allott served as a major in the United States Army Air Forces from 1942 to 1946. After the war he became a district attorney in the fifteenth judicial district from 1946 to 1948. He was the vice chairman of the Colorado Board of Paroles from 1951 to 1955, and he served as the 33rd lieutenant governor of Colorado from 1951 to 1955 under Democratic governor Walter Walford Johnson and Republican governor Daniel I. J. Thornton.

Allott was elected to the United States Senate in 1954. He was reelected in 1960 and again in 1966, and served from January 3, 1955, to January 3, 1973. There he was Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee. Allott voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 7, 1957|journal=Congressional Record|volume=103|issue=10|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=13900|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt10-9-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 29, 1957|journal=Congressional Record|volume=103|issue=12|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=16478|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt12-6-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}} 1964,{{cite journal|title=Senate – June 19, 1964|journal=Congressional Record|volume=110|issue=11|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=14511|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1964-pt11/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1964-pt11-3-2.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}} and 1968,{{cite journal|title=Senate – March 11, 1968|journal=Congressional Record|volume=114|issue=5|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=5992|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1968-pt5/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1968-pt5-4-2.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}} as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,{{cite journal|title=Senate – March 27, 1962|journal=Congressional Record|volume=108|issue=4|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=5105|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1962-pt4/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1962-pt4-9-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}} the Voting Rights Act of 1965,{{cite journal|title=Senate – May 26, 1965|journal=Congressional Record|volume=111|issue=2|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=11752|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1965-pt9/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1965-pt9-2-2.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 4, 1965|journal=Congressional Record|volume=111|issue=14|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=19378|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1965-pt14/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1965-pt14-6-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}} and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court,{{cite journal|title=Senate – August 30, 1967|journal=Congressional Record|volume=113|issue=18|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=24656|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1967-pt18/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1967-pt18-7-2.pdf|access-date=February 5, 2022}} while Allott did not vote on the Civil Rights Act of 1960.{{cite journal|title=Senate – April 8, 1960|journal=Congressional Record|volume=106|issue=6|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=7810–7811|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1960-pt6-8-1.pdf|access-date=February 18, 2022}}