[7] Charles Hayden was a Connecticut-born merchant and freight operator who had moved west due to a lung ailment and homesteaded a claim on the south bank of the Salt River.

After one term as county treasurer, he chose to pursue the more lucrative office of sheriff—the position providing a travel budget and a percentage of collected fees.

These acquaintances, combined with the influence of his father's good reputation, allowed Hayden a surprise win in the Democratic primary which was followed by his election to the United States House of Representatives.

[23] Hayden gave the jail house keys to Deputy Jeff Adams and, with his wife, began the trip to Washington, D.C. the same day President William H. Taft signed the legislation granting Arizona statehood.

[29] Other early efforts by Hayden included sponsoring the creation of the Grand Canyon National Park and the 1919 legislation resulting in the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

[30] Beginning with an appropriation during his first term for the United States Army Corps of Engineers to perform a study accessing the feasibility of building a flood control dam, Hayden sought to bring a reclamation project to the Gila River.

In the summer of 1917 Hayden proposed to President Wilson that the Industrial Workers of the World labor union be declared an outlaw organization so that vigilantes could take care of them.

[35] As an officer in the Arizona National Guard prior to the war, Major Hayden volunteered to join his unit and served as commander of the 9th battalion, 166th Depot Brigade at Camp Lewis, Washington helping prepare his division for active duty.

As a result of this disagreement when Representative Phil Swing and Senator Hiram Johnson, both from California, introduced legislation authorizing the Boulder Canyon Project, Hayden became a leader of the opposition.

To this effort his campaign poster was composed of editorial headlines from California newspapers decrying Hayden's effectiveness at preventing passage of the Swing-Johnson Bill authorizing construction of Boulder Dam.

[39] The campaign saw allegations of misconduct raised with incumbent Ralph H. Cameron claiming Hayden had used a slush fund received from out-of-state interests.

The final bill also included authorization to pay both Arizona and Nevada an amount comparable to the tax revenues that would be generated if the dam had been built by private enterprise.

His interest in the subject was such that President Roosevelt asked why he always wished to talk about roads, to which Hayden replied, "Because Arizona has two things people will drive thousands of miles to see—Grand Canyon and the Petrified Forest.

"[2] The first piece of legislation came in 1933 with US$400 million in federal matching funds targeted at highway construction included in the National Industrial Recovery Act.

In addition to road construction, Hayden also had an interest in promoting highway safety, joining with first-term Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman in 1939 to propose legislation cutting federal funds by a third for states that failed to enact licensing requirements along with other portions of the Uniform Vehicle Code.

An Army Desert Training Center built in southwestern Arizona and southeastern California was also used by American troops preparing for the North African campaign.

He also introduced amendments prohibiting payment of money to avoid military service, draftees procuring substitutes, and securing of enlistments by the paying of bounties.

Hayden and McFarland reintroduced their previous legislation in 1951 but it was again defeated in the House, this time due to concerns that full appropriation of Colorado waters had not occurred.

[63] The legislative setback prompted Arizona to file suit in the United States Supreme Court seeking adjudication of the water rights issue.

Following World War II, large numbers of Midwestern expatriates moved to Arizona and bolstered the growth of the Republican Party within the state.

As a result, during the 1956 election Hayden's campaign produced a number of television and radio appearances designed to inform voters of the Senator's accomplishments and dispel rumors of failing health and senility.

[67] In 1956, Hayden was involved in a legal dispute when a United States district court judge issued a restraining order blocking the publication of a Senate pamphlet.

Hayden, who was then the chairman of the Joint Committee on Printing, charged the order was unconstitutional and stated, "If a court can enjoin Congress from issuing a report it will only be a matter of time before our remarks on the floor of the Senate or the House of Representatives would be subject to a judicial review and a complete breakdown of the constitutional principal of separation of powers would ensue.

The court ruling was later set aside by another federal judge stating the order had "constituted an unwarranted and unauthorized action by the judiciary" that interfered with the government's legislative function.

By April, Hayden had arranged for a meeting room located midway between the two chambers but House members refused to discuss the issue face-to-face until July, when US$55 billion in unapproved appropriations threatened to force a government shutdown.

To aid his re-election, campaign staff arranged for a series of events to celebrate Hayden's fiftieth anniversary in Congress and raise awareness of his achievements.

"[60] Hayden kept a considerably lower national profile than conventional wisdom would suggest for someone who spent more than half a century in Washington, including 42 years in the Senate.

"[20] Hayden quickly earned a reputation as a "service congressman" who faithfully responded to constituent mail, inserting vegetable or flower seed packets in his replies.

[86][87] His avoidance of public speaking did not impair Hayden in his duties, with then Senator Lyndon B. Johnson saying "He is living proof that effectiveness and statesmanship are not necessarily coupled with talkativeness"[72] and Arthur Edson of the Associated Press writing, "He has kept his mouth shut while astutely pushing out invisible tentacles of power".

In addition to organizing the papers he collected during his career, he also wrote a biography of his father and worked on a project documenting the lives of Arizona's pioneers.