Gifford Pinchot
Gifford Pinchot | |
---|---|
Chief of the United States Forest Service | |
In office February 1, 1905 – January 7, 1910 | |
President | Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft |
Preceded by | Office Created |
Succeeded by | Henry Graves[a] |
4th Chief of the Division of Forestry | |
In office March 15, 1898 – February 1, 1905 | |
President | William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt |
Preceded by | Bernhard Fernow |
Succeeded by | Himself[b] |
Personal details | |
Born | Progressive "Bull Moose" (1912) | August 11, 1865
Spouse | Cornelia Bryce Pinchot |
Alma mater | Yale University |
Signature | |
a.^ Albert F. Potter served as acting chief of the Forest Service until Graves was selected for appointment to the position on a permanent basis.[1][2] b.^ As Chief of the Forest Service. | |
Gifford Pinchot
Born into the wealthy Pinchot family, Gifford Pinchot embarked on a career in forestry after graduating from Yale University in 1889. President William McKinley appointed Pinchot as the head of the Division of Forestry in 1898, and Pinchot became the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service after it was established in 1905. Pinchot enjoyed a close relationship with President Theodore Roosevelt, who shared Pinchot's views regarding the importance of conservation. After William Howard Taft succeeded Roosevelt as president, Pinchot was at the center of the Pinchot–Ballinger controversy, a dispute with Secretary of the Interior Richard A. Ballinger that led to Pinchot's dismissal. The controversy contributed to the split of the Republican Party and the formation of the Progressive Party prior to the 1912 presidential election. Pinchot supported Roosevelt's Progressive candidacy, but Roosevelt was defeated by Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
Pinchot returned to public office in 1920, becoming the head of the Pennsylvania's forestry division under Governor William Cameron Sproul. He succeeded Sproul by winning the 1922 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election. He won a second term as governor through a victory in the 1930 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, and supported many of the New Deal policies of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. After the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment, Pinchot led the establishment of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, calling it "the best liquor control system in America".[4] He retired from public life after his defeat in the 1938 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, but remained active in the conservation movement until his death in 1946.
Early life and education, 1865 through 1890
Gifford Pinchot was born in
Pinchot was educated at home until 1881, when he enrolled in
Early career, 1890–1910
Early roles
Pinchot landed his first professional forestry position in early 1892, when he became the manager of the forests at
Lead forester
Head of the Division of Forestry
In 1898, Pinchot became the head of the Division of Forestry, which was part of the
In 1900, Pinchot established the Society of American Foresters, an organization that helped bring credibility to the new profession of forestry, and was part of the broader professionalization movement underway in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. Pursuant to the goal of professionalization, the Pinchot family endowed a 2-year graduate-level School of Forestry at Yale University, which is now known as the Forest School at the Yale School of the Environment.[31] It became the third school in the U.S. that trained professional foresters, after the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell and the Biltmore Forest School.[32] Central to his publicity work was his creation of news for magazines and newspapers.[33]
Chief of the United States Forest Service
Pinchot's friend, Theodore Roosevelt, became president in 1901, and Pinchot became part of the latter's informal "Tennis Cabinet". Pinchot and Roosevelt shared the view that the federal government must act to regulate public lands and provide for the scientific management of public resources.[34] In 1905, Roosevelt and Pinchot convinced Congress to establish the United States Forest Service, an agency charged with overseeing the country's forest reserves.[35] As the first head of the Forest Service, Pinchot implemented a decentralized structure that empowered local civil servants to make decisions about conservation and forestry.[36]
Pinchot's conservation philosophy was influenced by ethnologist
The Roosevelt administration's efforts to regulate public land led to blowback in Congress, which moved to combat "Pinchotism" and reassert control over the Forest Service.
Pinchot–Ballinger controversy
Pinchot continued to lead the Forest Service after Republican
There is no real difference of opinion between those who believe with Mr. Ballinger and those who believe with Mr. Pinchot regarding the legislation which should be enacted as to the conservation of our natural resources. The difference which exists between them is as to the authority of law. Mr. Garfield... and Mr. Pinchot have both taken the view that the Executive Department, as the custodian of the great public domain, can do anything that is necessary for the protection and conservation of that domain which is not forbidden by law. ... I propose now to state the position of Mr. Ballinger — it is that in the protection and conservation of the public domain the Interior Department, or the Executive Department, has only those powers expressly authorized by law.[49]
When Ballinger approved of long-disputed mining claims to coal deposits in Alaska in 1909, Land Office agent
Political career, 1910–1935
Progressive Party
At Roosevelt's request, Pinchot met Roosevelt in Europe in 1910, where they discussed Pinchot's dismissal by Taft.
Pinchot continued to affiliate with the Progressives after the 1912 election, working to build the party in Pennsylvania.
Continued Conservation
After leaving office in 1910, Pinchot took up leadership of the National Conservation Association (NCA), a conservationist non-governmental organization that he had helped found the previous year. The organization, which ceased operations in 1923, never attracted as many members as Pinchot had initially hoped, but its efforts affected conservation-related legislation.[67] Later in the 1920s, Pinchot worked with Senator George W. Norris to build a federal dam on the Tennessee River.[68]
Pinchot had appointed
First term as Governor of Pennsylvania
Governor William Cameron Sproul appointed Pinchot as chairman of the Pennsylvania Forest Commission in 1920. As chairman, Pinchot coaxed a major budget increase from the legislature, decentralized the commission's administration, and replaced numerous political appointees with professional foresters. He narrowly won the three-candidate Republican primary in Pennsylvania's 1922 gubernatorial election, and went on to defeat Democrat John A. McSparran in the general election.[72] Pinchot's victory over his Republican opponents owed much to his reputation as a staunch teetotaler during the early period of Prohibition; he was also boosted by his popularity with farmers, laborers, and women.[73] Pinchot focused on balancing the state budget; he inherited a $32 million deficit and left office with a $6.7 million surplus.[74] Pinchot and engineer Morris Llewellyn Cooke pursued ambitious plans to regulate Pennsylvania's electric power industry, but their proposals were defeated in the state legislature.[75]
Pinchot emerged as a potential contender for the Republican nomination in the
Second term as governor
With the backing of Senator Grundy, Pinchot launched a bid for the Republican nomination in the
Pinchot prioritized fiscal conservatism and avoided major budget increases, but he also sought ways to help the impoverished and unemployed. He presided over the passage of a bill to provide state money for indigent care and initiated various infrastructure projects.[81] He cooperated with President Franklin Roosevelt, despite Roosevelt's being a Democrat and Prohibition opponent. Under Governor Pinchot's leadership, Pennsylvania welcomed the Civilian Conservation Corps, which established 113 camps to work on public lands in Pennsylvania (second only to California). Working with the Works Progress Administration and National Park Service, Pinchot helped expand Pennsylvania's state parks, and also helped Pennsylvania's struggling farmers and unemployed workers by paving rural roads, which became known as "Pinchot Roads".[82][83]
Prohibition was repealed in 1933. Four days before the sale of alcohol became legal in Pennsylvania again, Pinchot called the Pennsylvania General Assembly into special session to debate regulations regarding the manufacture and sale of alcohol. This session led to the establishment of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and its system of state-run liquor stores. Though Pinchot is often misquoted as having said his goal was to "discourage the purchase of alcoholic beverages by making it as inconvenient and expensive as possible", in reality he believed that the PLCB would put bootleggers out of business by offering lower prices.[4] Pinchot also argued that under the new system of state controlled liquor stores "[w]hisky will be sold by civil service employees with exactly the same amount of salesmanship as is displayed by an automatic postage stamp vending machine."[84]
Eugenics
Pinchot was a delegate to the first and second International Eugenics Congress, in 1912 and 1921, and a member of the advisory council of the American Eugenics Society, from 1925 to 1935.[85]
Final years
Pinchot ran unsuccessfully for the Senate a third time in the
Out of public office, Pinchot continued his ultimately successful campaign to prevent the transfer of the Forest Service to the Department of the Interior, frequently sparring with Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes.[89][c] He also published new editions of his manual on forestry[90] and worked on his autobiography, Breaking New Ground, which was published shortly after his death.[91] During and after World War II, Pinchot advocated for conservation to be a part of the mission of the United Nations, but the United Nations would not focus on the environment until the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment.[92]
Death
Gifford Pinchot died on October 4, 1946, aged 81, from leukemia. He is interred at Milford Cemetery, Pike County, Pennsylvania.[93]
Personal life
During the 1912 presidential campaign, Pinchot frequently worked with
Pinchot and his wife had one child, Gifford Bryce Pinchot, who was born in 1915.[97] The younger Pinchot later helped found the Natural Resources Defense Council, an organization similar to his father's National Conservation Association.[98] Proud of the first Gifford Pinchot's legacy, the family has continued to name their sons Gifford, down to Gifford Pinchot IV.[99]
Legacy
Gifford Pinchot was a highly important figure in the history of conservation and natural resource management in the United States. Here are some key reasons for his significance:[100] Pinchot was instrumental in President Roosevelt's establishment of the United States Forest Service in 1905. As the first Chief of the Forest Service, he played a key role in shaping the agency's mission and policies, emphasizing sustainable management of forest resources for the benefit of the public. Pinchot was a highly visible organizer and writer in the conservation movement of the early 20th century. A master politician, he advocated for the wise use and preservation of natural resources, promoting the idea of conservation as a means to ensure long-term benefits for society. Pinchot was fired by President Taft, and this was a major factor in the alienation of Taft and Roosevelt in 1912.[101]
Pinchot developed the concept of multiple-use management, which advocated for balancing conservation with the utilization of natural resources for economic and social purposes. This principle continues to influence conservation practices today. Pinchot's advocacy and expertise helped shape significant conservation policies and legislation during his time, including the establishment of national forests, the Antiquities Act, and the National Park Service. On conservation matters he was a major influence on President Theodore Roosevelt. Pinchot's ideas and legacy have had a lasting impact on conservation practices in the United States and beyond. His emphasis on sustainable resource management and the public interest continues to be relevant in contemporary conservation efforts.[102]
Memorials
See also
- Environmental history of the United States
- List of covers of Time magazine (1920s) (November 23, 1925)
- National Irrigation Congress
- Pinchot South Sea Expedition
Notes
- Literary Digest "as though it were spelled pin'cho, with slight emphasis on the first syllable."[3]
- ^ The Supreme Court upheld the Forest Service's power to control access to public land in the 1911 cases of United States v. Grimaud and United States v. Light.[42]
- ^ The debate over the status of the Forest Service was part of a larger debate over the Brownlow Committee's recommendations to restructure the executive branch. Ickes sought to combine the Forest Service with the Department of the Interior to create a new Cabinet Department, the Department of Conservation.[89]
References
- ^ "Taft Fears No Harm From Pinchot Row". The New York Times. January 9, 1910. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
- ^ "America's Chief Forester". The Mansfield Daily Shield. January 21, 1910. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
- ^ (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936)
- ^ a b Madaio, Mike (October 2021). "Why Did Pennsylvania Become a Liquor Control State?". Pennsylvania Vine Company. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
- ^ Miller (2001), p. 58
- ^ Johnson, Kirk (June 7, 2001). "From a Woodland Elegy, A Rhapsody in Green; Hunter Mountain Paintings Spurred Recovery". The New York Times.
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 30–34
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 53, 194
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 20–23
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 39–43
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 58, 190
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 58–60
- ^ Pinchot, Gifford (1947). Breaking New Ground. Island Press (reprint, 1987). p. 1.
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 67–70
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 71–73
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 79–81
- ^ America has been the context for both the origins of conservation history and its modern form, environmental history Archived March 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. Asiaticsociety.org.bd. Retrieved on September 1, 2011.
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 83–90
- ISBN 978-1-4391-9354-9.
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 101–102
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 125–127, 136; Clayton (2019), p. 225
- ^ Miller (2001), p. 111
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 129–130
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 136–137
- ^ Miller (2001), p. 134
- ^ Miller (2001), p. 138
- ^ a b c "The Big Burn-Transcript". American Experience. PBS. February 3, 2015. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
- ISSN 0031-4528.
- ^ Miller (2001), p. 156
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 155–156
- ^ "Yale F&ES to Become the Yale School of the Environment". February 10, 2020.
- ^ "The History of Forestry in America", p. 710, by W.N. Sparhawk in Trees: Yearbook of Agriculture, 1949. Washington, D.C.
- S2CID 163274398.
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 147–150
- ^ Cooper (1990), p. 49
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 156–158
- ^ Miller (2001), p. 155
- ^ Miller (2001), p. 330
- ^ The National Parks: America's Best Idea: Historical Figures. PBS. Retrieved on September 1, 2011.
- ^ Balogh 2002
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 151–152, 159
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 159–161
- ^ Cooper (1990), pp. 110–111
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 163–164
- ^ Cooper (1990), pp. 111–112
- ^ Cooper (1990), p. 155
- ISBN 978-1-4391-9354-9.
- ^ Coletta (1973), pp. 77–82
- ^ Pringle, Henry F., The Life and Times of William Howard Taft, Vol.1, pp.477-478 (New York, Farrar & Rinehart, 1939) (retrieved Dec. 30, 2023) (italics Pringle's).
- ^ Coletta (1973), pp. 85–86, 89
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 210–212
- ^ Coletta (1973), pp. 89–92
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 214–217
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 218–221
- ^ Ickes, Harold L., Not guilty: an official inquiry into the charges made by Glavis and Pinchot against Richard A. Ballinger, secretary of the interior, 1909-1911, p.3 (Washington, United States Government Printing Office, 1940) (retrieved Dec. 30, 2023).
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 231–233
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 234–235
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 245–246
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 236–237
- ^ Fausold (1958), pp. 26–28
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 237–238
- ^ "Brumbaugh Elected Governor: Penrose Re-elected." Chambersburg, Pennsylvania: The Franklin Repository, November 7, 1914, p. 1 (subscription required).
- ^ "Rum Interests Sweep the State with Big Vote for Penrose and Brumbaugh." Lewisburg, Pennsylvania: The Lewisburg Journal, November 6, 1914, p. 1 (subscription required).
- ^ "Re-elected to U.S. Senate." Uniontown, Pennsylvania: The Morning Herald, November 4, 1914, p. 1 (subscription required).
- ^ Fausold (1958), p. 38
- ^ McGeary (1959), pp. 341–342
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 226–228
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 274–276
- ^ Egan (2009), pp. 270–271
- ^ Egan (2009), p. 281
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 292, 341–344
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 249–250
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 251–254
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 260–261
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 269–270
- ^ Zieger (1965), pp. 566–567
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 261–263
- ^ McGeary (1959), pp. 317–320.
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 309–310
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 310–311
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 311–313
- ^ First Pinchot Road Historical Marker, Explore PA History.com
- ^ McClure, Jim. "First Pinchot Road in York County example of Great Depression-era stimulus project". York Daily Record. Retrieved September 7, 2021.
- ^ Char Miller, ed. 2017. Gifford Pinchot: Selected Writings. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 173.
- ^ Purdy, Jedediah (August 13, 2015). "Environmentalism's Racist History". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 323–324
- S2CID 144678282.
- ^ Morgan (1978), pp. 198–202
- ^ a b Miller (2001), pp. 351–356
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 333–335
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 361–365
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 372–375
- ^ a b "Governor Gifford Pinchot | PHMC > Pennsylvania Governors".
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 177–180
- ^ Miller (2001), p. 349
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 296–299
- ^ Miller (2001), p. 204
- ^ Miller (2001), pp. 357
- ^ Tristan Baurick, "Pinchot embraces his family name, its calling", Kitsap Sun, October 22, 2011, available at "Pinchot embraces his family name, its calling » Kitsap Sun". Archived from the original on March 12, 2014. Retrieved June 2, 2012.. Last accessed June 2, 2012.
- ^ Linda C. Forbes, "A Vision for Cultivating a Nation: Gifford Pinchot’s the Fight for Conservation" Organization and Environment 17#2 (2004) pp.226-231 https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026603256280
- ^ Martin L. Fausold, Gifford Pinchot: Bull Moose Progressive (Syracuse University Press, 1961)
- ^ Char Miller, Seeking the Greatest Good: The Conservation Legacy of Gifford Pinchot (2013).
- ^ "Historic and Architectural Resources Inventory for the Town of Simsbury, Connecticut" (PDF). Town of Simsbury Connecticut. April 2010. p. 55. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 26, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
- ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Pinchot", pp. 207–208).
- ^ "Grey Towers". United States Department of Agriculture – Forest Service. Retrieved November 7, 2020.
- ^ "Grey Towers". Grey Towers Heritage Association. Archived from the original on April 20, 2012. Retrieved January 24, 2012.
- ^ International Plant Names Index. Pinchot.
Works cited
- Coletta, Paolo Enrico (1973). The Presidency of William Howard Taft. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0700600960.
- ISBN 978-0393956559.
- ISBN 978-0-618-96841-1.
- Fausold, Martin L. (January 1958). "Gifford Pinchot and the Decline of Pennsylvania Progressivism". Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies. 25 (1): 25–38. JSTOR 27769780.
- McGeary, M. Nelson (1959). "Gifford Pinchot's Years of Frustration, 1917–1920". JSTOR 20089210.
- Miller, Char (2001). Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism. Island Press. ISBN 1-55963-822-2.
- Morgan, Alfred L. (April 1978). "The Significance of Pennsylvania's 1938 Gubernatorial Election". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 102 (2): 184–211. JSTOR 20091255.
- Zieger, Robert H. (December 1965). "Pinchot and Coolidge: The Politics of the 1923 Anthracite Crisis". The Journal of American History. 52 (3): 566–581. JSTOR 1890848.
Bibliography
- Primary sources by Pinchot
- Breaking New Ground. 1947. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. In print, 1998, by Island Press and in paperback. ISBN 978-1-55963-670-4 *online
- The Conservation Diaries of Gifford Pinchot. 2001. Edited by Harold K. Steen.
- The Training of a Forester. 1914. J.B. Lippencott Company.
- The Fight for Conservation. 1910. New York: Doubleday, Page & Company.
- Secondary sources
- Balogh, Brian (2002). "Scientific Forestry and the Roots of the Modern American State: Gifford Pinchot's Path to Progressive Reform". Environmental History. 7 (2): 198–225. S2CID 144639845.
- Bankoff, Greg (2009). "Breaking New Ground? Gifford Pinchot and the Birth of 'Empire Forestry' in the Philippines, 1900–1905". Environment and History. 15 (3): 369–393. JSTOR 20723737.
- Clayton, John (2019). Natural Rivals: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and the Creation of America's Public Lands. Pegasus Books. ISBN 978-1643130804.
- Forbes, Linda C. (2004). "A Vision for Cultivating a Nation: Gifford Pinchot's "The Fight for Conservation"". Organization & Environment. 17 (2): 226–231. S2CID 144405438.
- Gould, Lewis L (2011), The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt (2nd ed.), University Press of Kansas, ISBN 978-0700617746
- ISBN 978-0471949404.
- McGeary, M. Nelson (1960). Gifford Pinchot: Forester-Politician. Princeton University Press.
- Meyer, John M. (1997). "Gifford Pinchot, John Muir, and the Boundaries of Politics in American Thought". Polity. 30 (2): 267–284. S2CID 147180080.
- Miller, Nancy R. (2008). "Cornelia Bryce Pinchot and the Struggle for Protective Labor Legislation in Pennsylvania". Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography. 132 (1): 33–64. JSTOR 20093980.
- ISBN 978-0300153507.
- The World's Work: A History of Our Time. XIX: 12662–12668. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
- Smith, Michael B. (1998). "The Value of a Tree: Public Debates of John Muir and Gifford Pinchot". Historian. 60 (4): 757–778. ISSN 0018-2370.
- ISBN 0878421076.
Progressive Politics and Despotism Create the National Forests
- Online sources
- 1912: Competing Visions for America, Gifford Pinchot, Ohio State University
- Gifford Pinchot (1865–1948) Conservation Hall of Fame, National Wildlife Federation
- Gifford Pinchot Brief Bio
External links
- Gifford Pinchot at the Forest History Society
- Works by Gifford Pinchot at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Gifford Pinchot at Internet Archive
- Works by Gifford Pinchot at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- The short film "Visions of the wild (1985)" is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
- "American Experience: The Big Burn"
- Grey Towers National Historical Site, Milford, Pennsylvania
- Pinchot Institute for Conservation, Washington, D.C.
- Gifford Pinchot at Find a Grave