New book explores the life and environmental work of Stewart Udall
Author focuses on the legacy of Stewart Udall,a champion of the environment and conservation
Scott Einberger had the title of his book picked out before he wrote a single word. “With Distance in His Eyes,” he says, represents the mindset of Stewart Udall, who was secretary of the Interior under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, an author and a staunch environmental advocate.
“Udall noted that Theodore Roosevelt, in terms of conservation … looked to the future to make sure there were woods and wildlife for the children, for future generations,” said Einberger, a D.C.-based environmental historian and former National Park Service ranger. “And I think Udall looked ahead to future generations to make sure beautiful tracts of public land, bald eagles (and) many other things were still going to be there and be able to be enjoyed.”
“He had distance in his eyes, so to speak, and that’s an underlying theme of the book.”
Einberger will visit Santa Fe, where Udall — the father of New Mexico U.S. Senator Tom Udall — lived for the last 20 years of his life before his death in 2010 at age 90.
The New Mexico History Museum is hosting an author talk and book-signing on Tuesday for Einberger’s biography chronicling the life and legacy of a “son of the West,” a phrase that Einberger says was used to describe Udall in several of his obituaries.
“In the polarized politics of today, I think it’s interesting to note conservationists can come from many places and backgrounds,” said Einberger. “I found it fascinating; he was a rural, Mormon Arizonan that was a liberal environmentalist.”
Udall, born in the small Arizona town of St. Johns, was secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969. Before that, he’d
represented Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives, starting in 1955.
During his time in the executive branch, Udall is credited with helping to designate four new national parks, six national monuments, nine national recreation areas, eight national seashores or lakeshores and 57 national wildlife refuges.
He was also a key player in environmental legislation that became law, including the 1964 Wilderness Act, which set aside 9 million acres of land for preservation; the Land and Water Conservation Fund, established in 1965; and the first versions of the Endangered Species Preservation Act.
In his book, Einberger described Udall as an “underanalyzed” figure in U.S. history, which he said was one of the reasons he decided to write about him.
“I don’t think he’s as big a name in American conservation history or American environmental history as he deserves to be,” he said. “I think he should be catapulted up there next to the Roosevelt presidents, Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson and definitely a few others, at least.”
Einberger said he’s long been a fan of Udall’s books and writings on the environment, particularly his 1963 book “The Quiet Crisis,” which outlined the environmental threats facing the U.S., including pollution.
He credits Udall’s underrated status to his humility. Though Udall authored dozens of books and articles chronicling and analyzing the environmental movement, he didn’t write about his own contributions to the movement. Einberger added that while many historians have written about Udall, most focused on one specific area of his work, such as the designation of certain national parks.
This is why, Einberger said, he tried to create a comprehensive overview of all of the major environmental categories that Udall tackled as a government official. He said his book is one of the first “cradle-to-grave” biographies of Udall.
“I have a chapter or two on national parks, on wildlife, on water, on energy, so I tried to be more broad than just one topic,” he said.
The book briefly touches on more personal elements of Udall’s life and work, including his family and upbringing, his friendship with famous poet Robert Frost — read at Kennedy’s inauguration — and Udall’s visit to the Soviet Union as Kennedy’s first cabinet member to meet with Nikita Khrushchev.
Post-government advocacy
The biography also delves deep into Udall’s work after the Nixon administration took over the White House and he was out of a job. Udall was just 49 at the time.
But that’s when he may have been an even stronger advocate than he was as a federal official, Einberger said.
Udall spent several years as legal counsel for Navajo uranium miners and others who had suffered health problems due to the country’s nuclear weapons enterprise. He did not win his cases, though Congress eventually passed a Radiation Exposure Compensation Act in the 1990s and amended it in 2000.
Einberger said Udall spent many years speaking out about and practicing environmental law in support of energy conservation. Many of his causes are still relevant today, Einbgerer said, although progressing more slowly than many would like. In the early to mid’70s, Udall was an early leader in promoting the retrofitting of homes and windows to be more energyefficient, and the use of solar and wind power.
“Udall wasn’t the first one to promote it in his writings,” Einberger said of renewable energy sources, “but he was certainly one of the first.”
Einberger hopes Udall’s life’s work — although not perfect — can inspire readers. The author said Udall’s legacy — which lives on today with people such as his senator son still “fighting the good environmental fight” — is less about legislation and more about being a leader during an era of “unprecedented environmental bipartisanship.”
He noted that the majority of Americans during the mid 1960s and into the 1970s were interested in conservation and the environment, which meant politicians on both sides of the aisle needed to get on board. And Udall understood the importance of bipartisanship and compromise, said Einberger.
When working on the Wilderness Act, the bill was rewritten dozens of times and eventually allowed for limited grazing and development to help smooth the transition for lumber, mining and ranchers. And for national park units like Utah’s Canyonlands and New York’s Fire Island National Seashore, Udall accepted smaller parks than he wanted so that at least some land could enter the park system, Einberger said.
“He did not believe in an all-ornothing mentality,” said Einberger. “He thought both sides could come together and respectfully debate, and respectively compromise and flush out important pieces of conservation legislation. Even if they weren’t perfect, it was still better than nothing.
“In today’s political climate, I think both sides would do very well to think more (and) emphasize more on that, rather than playing the blame game in politics.”
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I DON’T THINK HE’S AS BIG A NAME IN AMERICAN CONSERVATION HISTORY OR AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY AS HE DESERVES TO BE. SCOTT EINBERGER
AUTHOR
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