Stewart Lee Udall (January 31, 1920 – March 20, 2010) was an American politician and later, a federal government official who belonged to the Democratic Party. After serving three terms as a congressman from

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, he served as Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969, under presidents John F. Kennedy and

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

. A staunch liberal, he is best known for enthusiastically promoting environmentalism while in the cabinet, with success primarily under President Johnson.

Early life and education

Stewart Udall was born on January 31, 1920, in Saint Johns, Arizona, to Louisa Lee Udall (1893–1974) and Levi Stewart Udall (1891–1960). He had five siblings: Inez, Elma, Morris (Mo), Eloise, and David Burr. As a young boy Stewart worked on the family farm in St. Johns. He was remembered by his mother as a child with tremendous energy and an unquenchable curiosity. Udall attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

for two years until

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He served four years in the Air Force as an enlisted gunner on a B-24 Liberator, flying fifty missions over Western Europe from Italy with the 736th Bomb Squadron, 454th Bomb Group, for which he received the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters. He returned to the

in 1946, where he attended law school and played guard on a championship basketball team. In 1947, Udall, along with his brother Mo, helped integrate the University of Arizona cafeteria. Mo and Stewart were respected student athletes and Mo was student body president. On their way to lunch at the Student Union one day, they saw a group of black students eating lunch outside the building. Black students were allowed to buy food in the cafeteria but had to eat outside. When Mo and Stewart invited Morgan Maxwell Jr., a black freshman, to share their table in the cafeteria, it helped to calm some long-simmering issues surrounding

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

at the university.

Career

Udall received his law degree and was admitted to the Arizona bar in 1948. He began his law practice in

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

shortly thereafter. Udall became increasingly active in public service, being elected to the School Board of Amphitheater Public Schools (District 10) in Tucson in June 1951. As a school board member, he participated in desegregating the Amphitheater School District before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

. In 1954, Udall was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's Second District. He served with distinction in the House for three terms on the Interior and Education and Labor committees.

Secretary of the Interior

From 1961 to 1969 Udall served as Secretary of the Interior under presidents John F. Kennedy and

. Under his leadership, the Interior Department aggressively promoted an expansion of federal public lands and assisted with the enactment of major environmental legislation. Among his many accomplishments, Udall oversaw the addition of four national parks, six national monuments, eight national seashores and lakeshores, nine national recreation areas, twenty national historic sites, and fifty-six national wildlife refuges, including Canyonlands National Park in Utah, North Cascades National Park in Washington, Redwood National Park in California, the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey, and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail stretching from Georgia to Maine. Udall played a key role in the enactment of

environmental law Environmental laws are laws that protect the environment. The term "environmental law" encompasses treaties, statutes, regulations, conventions, and policies designed to protect the natural environment and manage the impact of human activitie ...

s such as the Clear Air, Water Quality and Clean Water Restoration Acts and Amendments, the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, the

Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 The United States' Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) is a federal program that was established by Act of Congress in 1965 to provide funds and matching grants to federal, state and local governments for the acquisition of land and water, and ...

, the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, the National Trail System Act of 1968, and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. In 1961, weeks after becoming the Secretary of Interior Udall told

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

owner,

George Preston Marshall George Preston Marshall (October 11, 1896 – August 9, 1969) was an American professional American football, football executive who founded the National Football League (NFL)'s Washington Commanders. The team began play as the Boston Braves in ...

, that he had to integrate the football team as every other franchise in the NFL already had, as a condition of use of the newly built and federally owned District of Columbia Stadium. Marshall integrated the team in 1962. On July 27, 1962, Udall sent a letter to the United States Geological Survey's board chairman to discuss policy on the use of ethnic slurs on the organization's topographical maps product. This led to a wider codified policy by the USGS against use of any ethnic slur in any map name. In September 1962, Udall was summoned unexpectedly into a meeting with Soviet Premier

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

while on a tour of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. It was during this meeting that Khrushchev famously hinted at his secret deployment of nuclear missiles to Cuba by telling Udall: "It's been a long time since you could spank us like a little boy. Now we can swat your ass." This was a prelude to the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

. Udall supported a plan created by the US Army Corps of Engineers to construct the Tocks Island Dam for the purpose of creating a reservoir for the benefit of the New York City water supply. After forcing homeowners out of their homes through buyouts and condemnation, the plan was abandoned. The homes that had not been bulldozed were simply left to deteriorate. Throughout the process, the federal government acted with impunity and a callous disregard for those who were displaced. With the election of President Reagan, the Tocks Island Dam project was shelved. Udall also helped spark a cultural renaissance in America by setting in motion initiatives that led to the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, and the revived Ford's Theatre. Upon Udall's recommendation President Kennedy asked former U.S. Poet Laureate

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American Colloquialism, colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New E ...

to read an original poem at his inauguration, establishing a tradition for that occasion. Stewart Udall 1964

A pioneer of the environmental movement, Udall warned of a conservation crisis in the 1960s with his best-selling book on environmental attitudes in the United States, ''The Quiet Crisis'' (1963). In the book, he wrote about the dangers of pollution, overuse of natural resources, and dwindling open spaces. Along with

Rachel Carson Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservation movement, conservationist whose sea trilogy (1941–1955) and book ''Silent Spring'' (1962) are credited with advancing mari ...

's ''Silent Spring'', The Quiet Crisis is credited with creating a consciousness in the country that led to the environmental movement. Udall was a staunch supporter of Rachel Carson and her work. Stewart Udall once stated, "Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact, plans to protect Man." Udall also had the foresight as Secretary of the Interior, to spearhead the use of NASA satellites to produce images of Earth from space for scientific research, leading to development of the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) center at the U.S. Geological Survey. Over the course of more than forty years, that program mapped the Earth from space, showing the physical changes to the planet. In 1967, the

National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such orga ...

awarded Udall its highest honor, the Audubon medal.

Energy policy

During the energy crisis in the 1970s, Udall advocated the use of

solar energy Solar energy is the radiant energy from the Sun's sunlight, light and heat, which can be harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating) and solar architecture. It is a ...

as one remedy to the crisis. In October 1972, Udall published a seminal article in '' The Atlantic Monthly'', entitled "The Last Traffic Jam". The article contains arguments for the proposition that "less is more" and foresaw problems with U.S. transportation and

energy policy Energy policies are the government's strategies and decisions regarding the Energy production, production, Energy distribution, distribution, and World energy supply and consumption, consumption of energy within a specific jurisdiction. Energy ...

and competition with emerging markets for scarce resources. In 1974, Udall, along with Charles Conconi and David Osterhout, wrote ''The Energy Balloon'', discussing the energy policies of the United States.

Later years

After leaving government service in 1969, Udall taught for a year at the School of Forestry at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

as a visiting professor of environmental humanism. He later devoted his time to writing books and articles about environmental issues and to practicing law. In 1971, he published ''America's Natural Treasures: National Nature Monuments and Seashores'', which is about America's national parks, monuments, and reserves. In 1979, he left Washington to return to the West. In 1980, Udall was elected to the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board and commissioned as a member of the Morrison Institute. Udall was presented with the Ansel Adams Award in 1986, the Wilderness Society's highest conservation award. He also was awarded the United Nations Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement. Udall received the Common Cause Public Service Achievement Award for his lifelong protection of the environment and defense of American citizens who were victims of nuclear weapons testing. In 1987, he published ''To the Inland Empire: Coronado and our Spanish Legacy'', which retraces the trails of Spanish explorer

Francisco Vásquez de Coronado Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Meaning of the name Francisco In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed " Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comm ...

as he searched for the "golden cities" of Cibola in what now is Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Udall published ''The Quiet Crisis and the Next Generation'' in 1988, a revised edition with nine new chapters of ''The Quiet Crisis'' (1963). "The Quiet Crisis" introduced the Myth of Superabundance. In 1990, he co-authored ''Beyond the Mythic West'', which examines effects of change upon the inhabitants and lands of the western United States. In 1998, he published ''The Myths of August: A Personal Exploration of Our Tragic Cold War Affairs with the Atom.'' In November 2009, Congress enacted legislation to honor Stewart Udall by renaming the Morris K. Udall Foundation as the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation, in recognition of the historic Interior Secretary's contributions. The Udall Foundation, an independent federal agency, was created initially to honor the legacy of the late Morris Udall, who represented Southern Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives for thirty years. Stewart Udall, who also represented Southern Arizona in Congress from 1955 to 1961, is Morris Udall's older brother. The two worked together on many environmental and Native American initiatives while Stewart Udall was Secretary of the Interior and Morris Udall a member of Congress. Congress recognized that the Udall legacy really was a shared legacy, rooted in the work of the Udall brothers, which dominated environmental reform for three decades. One of Udall's last essays, published in 2008, was his
Letter to My Grandchildren
, written with his wife, Ermalee, which asked for their grandchildren's assistance in advocating for protection of the Earth. This letter resulted in Udall being contacted by the VillageTown Stewards who asked that they videotape the thoughts in that letter, since it was more likely that the generation of his grandchildren watch internet videos than read letters. Udall agreed, and the video may be seen on-line at,
Stewart Udall on History: the greatest mistake
'. This video was transcribed and adapted to a chapter of a book,
Life Liberty Happiness
'. Udall also agreed to serve as Chairman Emeritus of the VillageTown Stewards. The video was filmed coincidentally on the Summer solstice of 2009 and Udall died nine months later on the Spring equinox. His public memorial was held on the Summer solstice of 2010. It is believed this video was the last recording of Udall's views.

Death and legacy

In the early hours of the Spring Equinox, March 20, 2010, Udall died peacefully at his home in the foothills of

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...

, age 90. After his death, President Obama noted on March 20, 2010, "For the better part of three decades, Stewart Udall served this nation honorably. Whether in the skies above Italy in

, in Congress, or as Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall left an indelible mark on this nation and inspired countless Americans who will continue his fight for clean air, clean water, and to maintain our many natural treasures." On June 8, 2010, President Barack Obama signed legislation to designate the United States Department of the Interior Building as the "Stewart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building." Point Udall, on St. Croix in the

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

, was named for him in 1968, honoring Udall's work to support the economy of the island group. Point Udall, USVI is the easternmost point of the United States in the direction of travel. The westernmost point in the direction of travel, Point Udall, Guam, is named for his brother Mo. This means that "America's day ... begin(s) and end(s) at a Point Udall."

Awards and decorations

During his USAAF service, Udall earned the following decorations: In 1967, Udall received the National Audubon Society's highest honor, the Audubon Medal.

Personal life

Stewart Udall was married to Ermalee Webb (died 2001) with whom he had two daughters, (Lori and Lynn) and four sons, (Denis, Jay, Scott, and Tom). He was the brother of U.S. Representative and 1976 presidential candidate, Mo Udall; he served as Mo's campaign manager during the Democratic primary election, which Mo lost to

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

. Stewart Udall's son Tom Udall and nephew Mark Udall (Mo's son), both former members of the U.S. House of Representatives, were elected to the United States Senate from New Mexico and Colorado, respectively, in 2008. Mark lost his seat in 2014, and Tom retired at the end of his second term in 2021. Udall was interviewed for two Ken Burns documentaries for PBS: '' The West'', which features his ancestor John D. Lee's role in the Mountain Meadows massacre of 1857, and '' The National Parks: America's Best Idea'', in his capacity as a former Secretary of the Interior, who oversaw the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

. Udall was the last surviving original member of Kennedy's cabinet. Udall's death left W. Willard Wirtz as the last surviving member of John F. Kennedy's cabinet. Wirtz died on April 24, 2010.

Bibliography

Books written by Udall

* ''The Quiet Crisis'', 1963 * ''1976: Agenda for Tomorrow'', 1968 * ''America's Natural Treasures: National Nature Monuments and Seashores'', 1971 * ''To the Inland Empire: Coronado and our Spanish Legacy'', 1987 * ''The Quiet Crisis and the Next Generation'', 1988 (Revised edition with nine new chapters of The Quiet Crisis (1963)) * ''In Coronado's Footsteps'', 1991 * ''The Myths of August: A Personal Exploration of Our tragic Cold War Affair with the Atom'', 1994 * ''Majestic Journey'', 1995, (Reissued To the Inland Empire under new title) * ''The Forgotten Founders: Rethinking The History Of The Old West'', 2002

Books co-authored by Udall

* ''Night Comes to the Cumberlands'', 1963, Harry M. Caudill, Stewart L. Udall (Foreword) * ''A Heritage Restored: America's Wildlife Refuges'', 1969, Murphy Robert William, Stewart L. Udall (Foreword) * ''The Energy Balloon'', 1974, with Charles Conconi and David Osterhout * ''Beyond the Mythic West'', 1988, with Patricia Nelson Limerick, Charles F. Wilkinson * ''Arizona, Wild & Free'', 1993, with nephew Randy Udall for the Arizona Game and Fish Department * ''National Parks of America'', 1993, David Muench with contributors James R. Udall and Stewart L. Udall * ''The Wilderness from Chamberlain Farm: A Story Of Hope For The American Wild'', 2001, Dean B. Bennett, Stewart L. Udall (Foreword) * ''Death, Daring, & Disaster – Search and Rescue in the National Parks'', 2005, Charles R. "Butch" Farabee Jr., Stewart L. Udall (Foreword) * ''The Navajo People and Uranium Mining'', 2007, with editors Doug Brugge, Timothy Benally, and Esther Yazzie-Lewis, Stewart L. Udall (Foreword) * ''Life Liberty Happiness – A journey from Blandville to a VillageTown'', 2010, Claude Lewenz, and Michael Henderson, Stewart L. Udall (co-authors)

Books about Udall

* ''Legacies of Camelot: Stewart and Lee Udall, American Culture, and the Arts'', 2008, by L. Boyd Finch * ''Showdown: JFK and the Integration of the Washington Redskins'', 2011, by Thomas G. Smith * ''Stewart L. Udall: Steward of the Land'', 2017, by Thomas G. Smith

References

External links

*
"Stuart Udall and the Politics of Beauty''
a documentary film
Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation

* ttp://www.ajelp.com/udall-tribute/ ''Stewart Udall: Renaissance Man'' by Terry Bracy & Ellen Wheelerin th
Arizona Journal of Environmental Law & Policy

48 minute video of Stewart Udall speaking at his kitchen table 9 months before his death

Oral History Interviews with Stewart Udall, from the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library
* PBS' American Experience episod
Earthdays
where Stewart Udall is one of the main presenters. {{DEFAULTSORT:Udall, Stewart 1920 births 2010 deaths American Latter Day Saints United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II American non-fiction writers Arizona lawyers Arizona Wildcats men's basketball players Basketball players from Arizona Kennedy administration cabinet members Lyndon B. Johnson administration cabinet members People from St. Johns, Arizona Politicians from Tucson, Arizona Military personnel from Arizona Udall family United States secretaries of the interior University of Arizona alumni United States Army Air Forces non-commissioned officers Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Arizona Lawyers from Tucson, Arizona American men's basketball players James E. Rogers College of Law alumni American athlete-politicians 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives