Charles Francis Adams III (August 2, 1866 – June 10, 1954) was an American lawyer and politician, who served as the 44th United States Secretary of the Navy under President Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933.

He promoted public understanding of the Navy's indispensable role in international affairs, and worked strenuously to maintain naval strength and efficiency during the Great Depression.

[2] Adams graduated cum laude from Harvard College in 1888, where he was a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Alpha chapter).

In 1903, while serving as president of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Adams proposed to Congress that the famed frigate USS Constitution be restored and returned to active service.

[4] Adams was elected as a delegate at large to serve as a member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention of 1917.

[1] Adams was appointed Secretary of the Navy on March 5, 1929, by President Herbert Hoover.

He vigorously promoted public understanding of the Navy's indispensable role in international affairs, and worked strenuously to maintain naval strength and efficiency during the Great Depression.

Adams was a supporter of limited presidential terms, well before the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution passed, and advocated that the Presidents should be required to renounce political parties and that after they left the presidency, should be made ex-officio members of the United States Senate.

[1]In 1920, Adams skippered the America's Cup defender Resolute and soon became known as the "Dean of American Helmsmen".

Vernon, stood for 120 years until it was destroyed by fire shortly after Christmas Day 2019.