Louis Russell Glavis (1883–1971) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and an

employee Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a cor ...

of the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...

. He was a prominent figure in the 1910

Pinchot–Ballinger controversy The Pinchot–Ballinger controversy, also known as the "Ballinger Affair", was a dispute between high level officials in the U.S. government regarding whether or not the federal government should allow private corporations to control water rights, ...

; a political dispute between President Taft's Secretary of Interior,

Richard Ballinger Richard Achilles Ballinger (July 9, 1858June 6, 1922) was mayor of Seattle, Washington, from 1904 to 1906, Commissioner of the United States General Land Office from 1907 to 1908 and U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1909 to 1911. Early life ...

and conservationist

Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsyl ...

over Governmental conservation policies.

Biography

In 1909, Glavis was an agent of the Department's

United States General Land Office The General Land Office (GLO) was an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States government responsible for Public domain (land), public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 ...

's Field Division in the northwestern United States and was based in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. He provided Pinchot with

information Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (log ...

about land deals in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

which he, Glavis, believed were illegal. Pinchot, in turn, accused Secretary Ballinger of providing Clarence Cunningham's syndicate of land claims that did not respect Roosevelt's conservation policies; policies Taft claimed to uphold in his administration. These accusations led to the controversy. After a Senate hearing, Ballinger was exonerated and Glavis was fired on the grounds of insubordination by President Taft who supported Ballinger's position. In 1933, Glavis was rehired by incoming Secretary of Interior

Harold L. Ickes Harold LeClair Ickes ( ; March 15, 1874 – February 3, 1952) was an American administrator, politician and lawyer. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for nearly 13 years from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold th ...

as Chief of the Division of Investigation. This Division was responsible for investigating charges of corruption involving all the Department's many business contracts. However, after three years, Ickes found Glavis to have a generally insubordinate nature. Glavis would conduct unauthorized surveillance of Department employees he felt were disloyal, for example. Ultimately, Glavis resigned from the Department in the summer of 1936 and was transferred to a Senate investigating committee. Later, Ickes wrote in his diary that he felt disappointed in Glavis, whom Ickes had once admired for his honesty; and that he had been unfairly unjust toward Ballinger, someone he had opposed in 1910, as he had also had to act in a similar way with Glavis.Ickes. p. 550 In the biographical supplement that came with the Ickes diaries that were published in 1953, it is mentioned that Glavis had returned to a private law practice.

References

Bibliography

*Ickes, Harold, ''The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes: The First Thousand Days'', New York, Simon and Schuster, 1953. *Mowry, George, ''The Era of Theodore Roosevelt'', New York, Harper & Row, 1958 SBN 06-133022-1 *Watkins, T.H., ''Righteous Pilgrim'', New York, Henry Holt and Co., 1990, (pbk.) Theodore Roosevelt administration personnel American conservationists 1971 deaths 1883 births Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel {{environmentalist-stub