Stewart Udall
b. January 31, 1920 - d. March 20, 2010
Role
Secretary of the Interior
Dates of Involvement
January 1961 - January 1969
Context
As the lone Secretary of the Interior during the Kennedy and Johnson Administration, Stewart Udall played a central role in the sustainment and execution of the Mission 66 Program and the overall expansion of the National Park Service. During the planning and construction of Beaver Meadows the Park Superintendents through the Director of the National Park Service reported to Udall as the Secretary of the Interior.
Education
“As a young man, Udall left St. John’s to attend the University of Arizona. He interrupted his studies to perform other duties which included two years as a Mormon missionary in New York and Pennsylvania, and military service in the United States Air Force as a World War II gunner in Europe. In 1946, Stewart was a member of the first University of Arizona basketball team to play at the National Invitational Tournament at Madison Square Garden. Shortly after graduating from the University in 1948 with a law degree, Stewart started his own practice. About two years later, he and his brother Morris opened up a firm together in Tucson, Arizona.” (UofAZ Library, 2017)
Career
“Shortly after graduating from the University in 1948 with a law degree, Udall started his own practice. About two years later, he and his brother Morris opened up a firm together in Tucson, Arizona. In 1954, Udall was elected to Congress from Arizona. He served on the United States House of Representatives Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs (1955-1960); the House, Education and Labor Committee (1955-1956); and the House Committee on Education and Labor (1957-1960). During the 85th Congress (1957-1958), Udall served on a Joint Committee on Navajo-Hopi Indian Administration.
Udall was instrumental in persuading Arizona Democrats to support Senator John F. Kennedy during the 1960 Democratic Nomination Convention. He was appointed by President Kennedy to serve as Secretary of the Interior, a position he held for nine years.
Highlights from his Cabinet career are The Wilderness Bill; The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act; the expansion of the National Park System to include four new national parks, six new national monuments, eight seashores and lakeshores, nine recreation areas, twenty historic sites, and fifty-six wildlife refuges; and the creation of The Land and Water Conservation Fund. After leaving government service in 1969, Udall went on to teach for a year at Yale University’s School of Forestry as a Visiting Professor of Environmental Humanism.” (UofAZ Library, 2017)
