Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel Dies

(Dutch News) – In May, 1970, then-Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel wrote a famous letter to President Nixon concerning the Vietnam War, the extension of the war into Cambodia, and the Nixon Adminstration’s attitude toward the nation’s young, many of whom were protesting the war. The letter, meant to be private, was leaked to the press and was the subject of national news for months until Hickel was fired by Nixon in November of 1970: Letter to President Nixon (pdf).

Hickel resigned in 1969 to become Interior secretary and quickly made national headlines as the environmental movement began to take root in America.

Hickel imposed stringent cleanup regulations on oil companies and water polluters after an oil rig explosion off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif. He also fought to save the Everglades from being destroyed by developers and advocated for making Earth Day a national holiday.

Inside Intertior. lnterview with Walther Hickel (large pdf)