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Adam graduated from Pass Christian High School and then in 1913, at the age of nineteen, from Millsaps College in the state capital of [[Jackson]]. There he  received legal training to pass the state bar examination. He served as a private in the [[United States Army]] in [[France]] during [[World War I]]. Adam practiced law in Gulfport for many years and served on the Mississippi Bar Commission.<ref name=histharr/>​

Adam graduated from Pass Christian High School and then in 1913, at the age of nineteen, from Millsaps College in the state capital of [[Jackson]]. There he  received legal training to pass the state bar examination. He served as a private in the [[United States Army]] in [[France]] during [[World War I]]. Adam practiced law in Gulfport for many years and served on the Mississippi Bar Commission.<ref name=histharr/>​

On February 25, 1920, he married the former Edna Quick (1900-1988), who was an alternate delegate to the 1928 [[Democratic National Convention]], which met in [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Texas]], to assemble the unsuccessful [[Al Smith|Smith]]-[[Joseph T. Robinson|Robinson]] ticket.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MS/female.html|title=Mrs. Bidwell Adam|publisher=The Political Graveyard|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref> The couple had three sons, Cayton Bidwell Adam, Jr. (1922-1963), Robert Borden Adam, Sr. (1925-1968), and Jack C. Adam (1932-2007).<ref name=histharr/> (1932-2007).​

On February 25, 1920, he married the former Edna Quick (1900-1988), who was an alternate delegate to the 1928 [[Democratic National Convention]], which met in [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Texas]], to assemble the unsuccessful [[Al Smith|Smith]]-[[Joseph T. Robinson|Robinson]] ticket.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MS/female.html|title=Mrs. Bidwell Adam|publisher=The Political Graveyard|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref> The couple had three sons, Cayton Bidwell Adam, Jr. (1922-1963), Robert Borden Adam, Sr. (1925-1968), and Jack C. Adam (1932-2007).<ref name=histharr/>​

 

In January 1968, Robert Adam, Sr., a lawyer and [[World War II]] veteran, and Robert's two daughters, Mary Canon "Nan" Adam (1949-1968) and Margaret "Peggy" Adam (1959-1968), perished in a house fire. Robert rescued his wife, Ann Bell Adam (1924-1968), but she died five months later.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=117115373|title=Robert Borden Adam, Sr.|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref> Bidwell Adam's grandson, Robert B. "Robin" Adam, Jr. (1947-2001), a former long-term resident of [[California]], died at the age of fifty-four in an automobile accident in [[Phoenix]], [[Arizona]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=52374827|title=Robert B. Adam, Jr.|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref>​

In January 1968, Robert Adam, Sr., a lawyer and [[World War II]] veteran, and Robert's two daughters, Mary Canon "Nan" Adam (1949-1968) and Margaret "Peggy" Adam (1959-1968), perished in a house fire. Robert rescued his wife, Ann Bell Adam (1924-1968), but she died five months later.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=117115373|title=Robert Borden Adam, Sr.|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref> Bidwell Adam's grandson, Robert B. "Robin" Adam, Jr. (1947-2001), a former long-term resident of [[California]], died at the age of fifty-four in an automobile accident in [[Phoenix]], [[Arizona]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=52374827|title=Robert B. Adam, Jr.|publisher=findagrave.com|accessdate=June 30, 2020}}</ref>​

 

Jack Capers Adam, the youngest son of Bidwell and Edna Adam, was stricken with asthma as a boy and sent from Pass Christian to Phoenix, where he was educated at the Southern Arizona School for Boys and became thereafter an [[Episcopalian]] priest. He worked to establish St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Boulder City, [[Nevada]], with financial help from such luminaries as the comedians [[Bob Hope]] and [[Jack Benny]] and the newspaper publisher Hank Greenspun. Known as "Father Jack" he subsequently left the Episcopal Church because of his opposition to the ordination of women, a policy implemented in 1976. He then became a [[Roman Catholic]]. He relocated to Mesa, Arizona to operate a jewelry store and continued mostly anonymous contributions to St. Jude's Ranch and youth causes. He died three days before his 75th birthday and is interred at Boulder City Cemetery. Jack Adam was survived by his wife of fifty-seven years, Ranelle Adam, and a daughter, Nancy A. Porter, both of Boulder City. A second daughter as well as his two brothers predeceased him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2007/oct/09/capers-adam-1932-2007/|title=Jack Capers Adam (1932-2007), October 9, 2007|publisher=''The Las Vegas Sun''|accessdate=May 9, 2014}}</ref>​

Jack Capers Adam, the youngest son of Bidwell and Edna Adam, was stricken with asthma as a boy and sent from Pass Christian to Phoenix, where he was educated at the Southern Arizona School for Boys and became thereafter an [[Episcopalian]] priest. He worked to establish St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Boulder City, [[Nevada]], with financial help from such luminaries as the comedians [[Bob Hope]] and Jack Benny (1894-1974) and the newspaper publisher Hank Greenspun. Known as "Father Jack" he subsequently left the Episcopal Church because of his opposition to the ordination of women, a policy implemented in 1976. He then became a [[Roman Catholic]]. He relocated to Mesa, Arizona to operate a jewelry store and continued mostly anonymous contributions to St. Jude's Ranch and youth causes. He died three days before his 75th birthday and is interred at Boulder City Cemetery. Jack Adam was survived by his wife of fifty-seven years, Ranelle Adam, and a daughter, Nancy A. Porter, both of Boulder City. A second daughter as well as his two brothers predeceased him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2007/oct/09/capers-adam-1932-2007/|title=Jack Capers Adam (1932-2007), October 9, 2007|publisher=''The Las Vegas Sun''|accessdate=May 9, 2014}}</ref>​

 

==Political life==​

==Political life==

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During the 1963 gubernatorial race in Mississippi, Adam was the state Democratic chairman and hence a leading campaigner for his party nominees, Paul Burney Johnson, Jr.] (1916-1985), for governor and Carroll Gartin (1913-1966)  for lieutenant governor. Though he lost his oldest son in the height of the election season, Adam seemed to become more enthusiastic when he campaigned for others than for himself. Johnson and Gartin faced the Republican challengers, respectively, [[Rubel Phillips]] of Corinth]] and Jackson, Mississippi, and [[Stanford Morse]], Adam's fellow attorney in Gulfport. Phillips and Morse, both former Democratic elected officials, were the first to run for governor and lieutenant governor as Republicans in Mississippi since 1947, when George Lawson Sheldon (1870-1960) polled only 2.5 percent of the vote. Phillips was seeking to succeed Ross Robert Barnett (1898-1987), who joined Adam in speaking on behalf of Johnson and Gartin, whom Barnett had defeated in the 1959 Democratic gubernatorial primary. Morse hoped to succeed Paul Johnson, who was the departing lieutenant governor.<ref>Billy Hathorn, "Challenging the Status Quo: Rubel Lex Phillips and the Mississippi Republican Party (1963-1967)," ''The Journal of Mississippi History'' XLVII, November 1985, No. 4, p. 242-243.</ref>​

During the 1963 gubernatorial race in Mississippi, Adam was the state Democratic chairman and hence a leading campaigner for his party nominees, Paul Burney Johnson, Jr.] (1916-1985), for governor and Carroll Gartin (1913-1966)  for lieutenant governor. Though he lost his oldest son in the height of the election season, Adam seemed to become more enthusiastic when he campaigned for others than for himself. Johnson and Gartin faced the Republican challengers, respectively, [[Rubel Phillips]] of Corinth]] and Jackson, Mississippi, and [[Stanford Morse]], Adam's fellow attorney in Gulfport. Phillips and Morse, both former Democratic elected officials, were the first to run for governor and lieutenant governor as Republicans in Mississippi since 1947, when George Lawson Sheldon (1870-1960) polled only 2.5 percent of the vote. Phillips was seeking to succeed Ross Robert Barnett (1898-1987), who joined Adam in speaking on behalf of Johnson and Gartin, whom Barnett had defeated in the 1959 Democratic gubernatorial primary. Morse hoped to succeed Paul Johnson, who was the departing lieutenant governor.<ref>Billy Hathorn, "Challenging the Status Quo: Rubel Lex Phillips and the Mississippi Republican Party (1963-1967)," ''The Journal of Mississippi History'' XLVII, November 1985, No. 4, p. 242-243.</ref>​

 

Adam worked closely with Johnson in the campaign. He produced a letter written in October 1962 in which Phillips requested Adam's help in a potential 1963 Democratic primary campaign for governor. Johnson and Adam questioned Phillips' [[conservative]] loyalty; they noted that Phillips as the county clerk in Alcorn County from 1952 to 1956 had supervised the registration of more [[African-American]] voters than had been customarily undertaken in most other Mississippi counties at the time. They stressed Phillips' support in 1956 for Democratic presidential nominee [[Adlai Stevenson]] of [[Illinois]], whom Adam and Johnson had also endorsed in the second race against [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]. Phillips in a memorandum had called Stevenson "the only hope for the South."<ref>"Challenging the Status Quo," pp. 243-244.</ref>​

Adam worked closely with Johnson in the campaign. He produced a letter written in October 1962 in which Phillips requested Adam's help in a potential 1963 Democratic primary campaign for governor. Johnson and Adam questioned Phillips' [[conservative]] loyalty; they noted that Phillips as the county clerk in Alcorn County from 1952 to 1956 had supervised the registration of more [[African-American]] voters than had been customarily undertaken in most other Mississippi counties at the time. They stressed Phillips' support in 1956 for Democratic presidential nominee [[Adlai Stevenson]] of [[Illinois]], whom Adam and Johnson had also endorsed in the second race against [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]. Phillips in a memorandum had called Stevenson "the only hope for the South."<ref>"Challenging the Status Quo," pp. 243-244.</ref>​

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Adam described candidate Paul Johnson as one who "towers like the giants of the forest above the man [Phillips] who is grazing in the pastures of filth." Adam predicted that the Democrats would give Phillips "the brass ring of political ingratitude that he so richly deserves and said that Phillips would be "buried in a political boneyard of forgotten men."<ref name="Status Quo p. 255">"Challenging the Status Quo, p. 255.</ref> Upon Phillips' defeat, Adam showed his biting sense of humor when he telegraphed his Republican counterpart, Wirt Yerger, boasting that since the GOP had been "electrocuted, will you please advise the date and place you will deliver the funeral oration?"<ref>"Challenging the Status Quo," p. 257.</ref>​

Adam described candidate Paul Johnson as one who "towers like the giants of the forest above the man [Phillips] who is grazing in the pastures of filth." Adam predicted that the Democrats would give Phillips "the brass ring of political ingratitude that he so richly deserves and said that Phillips would be "buried in a political boneyard of forgotten men."<ref name="Status Quo p. 255">"Challenging the Status Quo, p. 255</ref> Upon Phillips' defeat, Adam showed his biting sense of humor when he telegraphed his Republican counterpart, Wirt Yerger, boasting that since the GOP had been "electrocuted, will you please advise the date and place you will deliver the funeral oration?"<ref>"Challenging the Status Quo," p. 257.</ref>​

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In 1964, Adam endorsed [[U.S. Senator]] [[Barry Goldwater]] of Arizona, rather than the victorious President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] but had earlier criticized Goldwater for proposing the sale of the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] to private developers. Because the TVA serves northern Mississippi, Phillips also distanced himself from Goldwater's remarks. Adam called Goldwater "a true Republican where the dollar is involved" but not really a conservative as to "the social revolutions being forced by judicial edicts and bayonets at the hands of ruthless dictatorships", a reference to [[Segregation|desegregation]].<ref>"Challenging the Status Quo," p. 254-255.</ref>​  

In 1964, Adam endorsed [[U.S. Senator]] [[Barry Goldwater]] of Arizona, rather than the victorious President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] but had earlier criticized Goldwater for proposing the sale of the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] to private developers. Because the TVA serves northern Mississippi, Phillips also distanced himself from Goldwater's remarks. Adam called Goldwater "a true Republican where the dollar is involved" but not really a conservative as to "the social revolutions being forced by judicial edicts and bayonets at the hands of ruthless dictatorships", a reference to [[Segregation|desegregation]].<ref>"Challenging the Status Quo," pp. 254-255.</ref>​  

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Prior to his backing of Goldwater, who won Mississippi with 87 percent of the popular vote in 1964, Adam has earlier supported [[Strom Thurmond]]'s Dixiecrat presidential candidacy in [1948. Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956, and the unpledged slate in 1960, which carried Mississippi's [[electoral vote]]s, cast for [[U.S. Senator]] Harry Flood Byrd, Sr. (1887-1966), of [[Virginia]].  He also supported [[George Wallace]] of neighboring [[Alabama]] in 1968 in the third-party race against [[Richard M. Nixon]] and [[HubertHumphrey]]. In 1972, however, he backed Nixon in the [[general election campaign]] against [[George McGovern] of [[South Dakota]]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/>​

Prior to his backing of Goldwater, who won Mississippi with 87 percent of the popular vote in 1964, Adam has earlier supported [[Strom Thurmond]]'s Dixiecrat presidential candidacy in [1948. Adlai Stevenson in 1952 and 1956, and the unpledged slate in 1960, which carried Mississippi's [[electoral vote]]s, cast for [[U.S. Senator]] Harry Flood Byrd, Sr. (1887-1966), of [[Virginia]].  He also supported [[George Wallace]] of neighboring [[Alabama]] in 1968 in the third-party race against [[Richard M. Nixon]] and [[HubertHumphrey]]. In 1972, however, he backed Nixon in the [[general election campaign]] against [[George McGovern] of [[South Dakota]]].<ref name="ReferenceA"/>​