Andrus, four-term governor of Idaho and former US Secretary of the Interior under President Carter, brings his irascible charm to the task of reflecting upon his life as a politician. He reminisces frankly and honestly, giving particular attention to his fight to preserve the environment in his home state and throughout the nation. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for Caxton Press As a teenager, Cecil Andrus dropped out of college after his first year and drove off with his girlfriend to get married in Reno. The year was 1949. Twenty years later, now a Korean War navy veteran, still married and with three daughters the gypo-logger-turned-industrial-accident-insurance-salesman and veteran state senator from Orofino was elected to the first of four terms as Idaho’s governor—a record unlikely ever to be equaled. Andrus, however, was also embarking on a national career that would see him hailed as one of the greatest interior secretaries and the architect of the nation’s greatest conservation accomplishment—saving the “crown jewels” of Alaska for future generations. How did Cecil Andrus emerge from an ordinary background to become one of not just Idaho’s but the nation’s most extraordinary and successful politicians? Through a series of stories and anecdotes, Andrus’s long-time press secretary, Chris Carlson, relates a personal reminiscence of Andrus’s rise to the governorship, reveals the “political rules” Andrus practiced, and unveils the exceptional personal qualities of the man who arguably has had the greatest impact on Idaho in modern times. Chris Carlson is a former newspaper man, press secretary for Cecil Andrus, and founding partner of the Gallatin Group, a public affairs advisory firm, in Boise. He continues to write and champion causes that are important to him and to the West.
The Encyclopedia of Politics in the American West is an A to Z reference work on the political development of one of America’s most politically distinct, not to mention its fastest growing, region. This work will cover not only the significant events and actors of Western politics, but also deal with key institutional, historical, environmental, and sociopolitical themes and concepts that are important to more fully understanding the politics of the West over the last century.
Created in the early 20th century to provide scientific management of the nation's forests, the U.S. Forest Service was, for many years, regarded as a model agency in the federal government. The author contends that this reputation is undeserved and the Forest Service's performance today is unacceptable. Not only has scientific management proven impossible in practice, it is also objectionable in principle. Furthermore, the author argues that the Forest Service lacks a coherent vision and prefers to sponsor only fashionable environmental solutions--most recently ecosystem management. Describing its history and failures, the author advocates replacing the service with a decentralized system to manage the protection of national forests.
This is the story of the White family, who moved to Idaho at the time of statehood and served northern Idaho from the dark days of the Great Depression to the tense years of the Vietnam War in the United States Congress. The book includes a foreword by Howard Zinn.
Governors - both in, and now out of, office - see the job as the best in politics. Why is that? This title shows students how and why governors succeed as policy leaders and makes a case as to why some governors are better at leveraging the institutional advantages of the office.
Alaska in the early 1950s was one of the world's last great undeveloped areas. Yet sweeping changes were underway. In l958 Congress awarded the new state over 100 million acres to promote economic development. In 1971, it gave Native groups more than 40 million acres to settle land claims and facilitate the building of an 800-mile oil pipeline. Spurred by the newly militant environmental movement, it also began to consider the preservation of Alaska's magnificent scenery and wildlife. Northern Landscapes is an essential guide to Alaska's recent past and to contemporary local and national debates over the future of public lands and resources. It is the first comprehensive examination of the campaign to preserve wild Alaska through the creation of a vast system of parks and wildlife refuges. Drawing on archival sources and interviews, Daniel Nelson traces disputes over resources alongside the politics of the Alaska statehood movement. He provides in-depth coverage of the growth of Alaskan environmental organizations, their partnerships with national groups, and their participation in political campaigns into the 1970s and after. Engagingly written, Northern Landscapes focuses on efforts to persuade public officials to recognize the value of Alaska's mountains, forests, and wildlife. That activity culminated in the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) of 1980, which set aside more than 100 million acres, doubling the size of the national park and wildlife refuge systems, and tripling the size of the wilderness preservation system. Arguably the single greatest triumph of environmentalism, ANILCA also set the stage for continuing battles over the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Alaska's national forests.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the greater Northwest was ablaze with change and seemingly obsessed with progress. The promotional literature of the time praising railroads, population increases, and the growing sophistication of urban living, however, ignored the reality of poverty and ethnic and gender discrimination. During the course of the next century, even with dramatic changes in the region, one constant remainedÑ inequality. With an emphasis on the regionÕs political economy, its environmental history, and its cultural and social heritage, this lively and colorful history of the Pacific NorthwestÑdefined here as Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and southern British ColumbiaÑplaces the narrative of this dynamic region within a national and international context. Embracing both Canadian and American stories in looking at the larger region, renowned historian William Robbins and Katrine Barber offer us a fascinating regional history through the lens of both the environment and society. Understanding the physical landscape of the greater Pacific NorthwestÑand the watersheds of the Columbia, Fraser, Snake, and Klamath riversÑsets the stage for understanding the development of the area. Examining how this landscape spawned sawmills, fish canneries, railroads, logging camps, agriculture, and shared immigrant and ethnic traditions reveals an intricate portrait of the twentieth-century Northwest. Impressive in its synthesis of myriad historical facts, this first-rate regional history will be of interest to historians studying the region from a variety of perspectives and an informative read for anyone fascinated by the story of a landscape rich in diversity, natural resources, and Native culture.