Stewart Udall, who sparked the environmental conservation movement in the 1960s as U.S. secretary of the interior, died Saturday at age 90.
Udall was the patriarch of the Udall family, a Rocky Mountain dynasty of Democratic politicians, united in a deep appreciation of Western landscapes and values. He was known for his 50 missions as a B-24 tail gunner in World War II, his unflagging commitment to preserving America’s wildest places, his zeal for outdoor life and his provocative support of American Indians sickened in uranium mines. His brother, son and nephew carried his vision onward.
His brother, Morris Udall, served 30 years in Congress. His son, Tom, also a congressman, became a senator in 2008, the same year his nephew, Mark, became a U.S. senator for Colorado.
“He told us to take the ‘United States’ in our titles very seriously,” said Mark Udall. “United States senator, then your district and then your political party. His allegiance was in that order. ‘Out of Many, One; E pluribus unum.’ That really resonated with him.”
When Mark Udall won his Senate seat in 2008, his uncle — a father figure who inspired his nephew’s passion for scaling the West’s high places — told him:
“Who would imagine that an old, broken-down mountain climber who wasn’t a lawyer could get elected to the United States Senate?” Udall said, laughing.
Stewart Udall, who also served as a congressman, worked eight years as secretary of the interior under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. During that time, Udall magnified public lands and aggressively championed environmental protection. He helped write some of the world’s most expansive environmental legislation, including the predecessor of the Endangered Species Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and the Wilderness Act, which protects millions of untrammeled acres from logging, mining and machines.
He established four national parks — including Utah’s Canyonlands in 1965 — and dozens of national seashores and monuments.
Current Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said Udall was “one of the greatest secretaries of the interior in my lifetime.”
He was “a pioneer and visionary in protecting America’s natural resources and cultural heritage who exemplified his family’s commitment to public service,” Salazar said in a statement.
Udall was most proud of his decades of work on behalf of American Indians — especially Navajos from his native Arizona — who developed cancer and fell ill from working in uranium mines, Mark Udall said.
He began battling for sickened Navajo miners in the 1970s, after leaving Washington. He sued the federal government on behalf of Navajo miners who developed lung cancer from uranium exposure. That case failed at the U.S. Supreme Court, which left Udall “deeply disappointed, even angered,” Mark Udall said.
Stewart Udall redirected his dismay toward Washington, where he lobbied for congressional investigations that ultimately led to the 1990 Radiation Exposure Safety Act, which compensated thousands of Americans.
“He fought hard to bring justice to not just uranium miners, but for any victims exposed to uranium tailings and mining and radiation,” said Esther Yazzie-Lewis , a Navajo who co-authored the book “The Navajo People and Uranium Mining.”
Udall died peacefully at his home in Santa Fe, surrounded by family.
“The sadness I feel is in some part a sadness for losing a generation and a role model for all of us,” Mark Udall said.
