Alfred B. Kittredge, born March 28, 1861, in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, was educated at Yale, graduating in 1882. He moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 1885 to practice law, representing major railroads before entering politics. Kittredge served in the South Dakota legislature and was the Republican national committeeman. In 1901, he was appointed to the U.S. Senate, where he played a significant role in advocating for the Panama Canal route. Known for his judiciousness and persuasive speaking, Kittredge remained an influential political figure until his death. He was also active in social circles, despite being unmarried.
Hon. Alfred B. Kittredge.— Down in New England they have a word which ought to be in the dictionaries, for it expresses a type of men not easily defined by another term. They say a man is “judgmatical,” if he is sane, correct and evenly balanced in judgment, and no other characteristics are so prominent in Senator Kittredge as are those elements which would induce the Yankee of his native land to say that he is a judgmatical man. Unfailing common sense is the fundamental quality which has brought to him success in his undertakings, professionally and politically, and has won for him the esteem and admiration of a state-wide constituency. Founded in his great common sense are those other characteristics of industry, persistence and loyalty which have so strongly marked his career from boyhood to the commanding success which he has attained in his yet early manhood.
Senator Kittredge is a native of Cheshire County, New Hampshire, where he was born March 28, 1861. His parents were farmers and he was thoroughly instructed in agriculture, as it is practiced by the thrifty people of the White Mountain country and even yet, upon occasion, he surprises trained and practical farmers with his complete understanding of the mysteries of crop culture and stock breeding. He was educated in the public schools and after a season of special preparation, under a private tutor, entered Yale College in 1878 and graduated with honor four years later. From Yale he entered the law office of Judge Veasy, of Rutland, Vermont, and later studied in the office of Batchelder & Faulkner, of Keene, New Hampshire, and in 1884 returned to Yale where he completed the law course the following year and at once came to Sioux Falls where he engaged in the practice of his profession with a degree of success which has easily placed him among the very first attorneys practicing in the west. For many years he represented the legal interests of the Milwaukee and of the Great Northern railways in South Dakota, only resigning from such relations when entering the United States senate.
Mr. Kittredge began his political career as senator from Minnehaha County in the first and second state legislatures, where his good judgment impressed him upon the public men of the state and at once marked him for leadership. He demonstrated exceptional powers of organization and next year was chosen national committeeman for the Republican party for South Dakota and from that time has been the acknowledged leader of the party in the state. He was re-elected national committeeman in 1896, continuing in that position until 1900, when he declined re-election. When a vacancy in the United States senate was caused by the death of Senator James H. Kyle in 1901, Governor Herreid promptly carried out the common desire of the party by appointing Mr. Kittredge to the position. He received the unanimous endorsement of his party in state convention for election by the next legislature and when the legislature was chosen upon that issue it was found that only thirteen Democrats out of a total of one hundred and thirty-two members had been chosen, and after the final choice of Senator Kittredge had been made for both the short and the long terms the legislature unanimously joined in a resolution to telegraph congratulations to the Senator, who had remained at his post in Washington, and the Democratic members joined in support of the resolution. At this writing (June 1903) Senator Kittredge has participated in two sessions of the national legislature and has impressed himself upon that body much more forcibly and favorably than it is the fortune of new members often to do, in fact it is doubtful if another new member has ever achieved so much in his first term. He was placed upon the Isthmian canal committee and at once set out to master all of the facts involved in the canal question. At that time, as demonstrated by repeated tests in the senate, the preponderance of favor was for the Nicaragua route, but as Senator Kittredge proceeded with his examination of the subject the conviction began to grow upon him that the Panama route was the more feasible and when he had completed his study of the matter, he was firm in this view of the case. Two propositions were involved: The feasibility of the Panama route and the legality of it, i. e., the power of the French people to give good title to the property. On both of these propositions the Senator prepared himself with the same care with which he habitually prepared his cases for trial and his speeches upon the topic were so conclusive that the senate, in spite of the strong opposition of several members and the influence of a most powerful lobby, accepted Mr. Kittredge’s view and adopted the Panama route.
In those matters by which the success of a Western senator is most generally determined — the securing of loaves and fishes for his constituents — Senator Kittredge has been extraordinarily successful, without permitting this class of work, to which every new senator is doomed, to distract his attention from questions of great national policy.
As a speaker Senator Kittredge is earnest and convincing, avoiding all flamboyant mannerisms, but going directly and forcibly to the heart of his subject with the first stroke and adducing argument after argument in logical sequence and in a manner both interesting and irresistible. While bearing a reputation for taciturnity, he is delightful in his social relations, possessing an inexhaustible fund of anecdote and illustration and a graciousness of manner which captivates and holds all who come within the sphere of his social influence. He is unmarried but maintains an extensive and elaborate bachelor establishment in Sioux Falls where his friends from every section delight to congregate.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.