58 Facts About Mo Udall

Morris King Udall was an American attorney and Democratic politician who served as a US representative from Arizona from May 2,1961, to May 4,1991.

Mo Udall was a leading contender for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination.

Mo Udall was noted by many for his independent and liberal views.

In 1961, Mo Udall won a special election to succeed his brother, Stewart Mo Udall, as the congressman for Arizona's 2nd congressional district.

In Congress, the younger Mo Udall became a prominent and popular figure for his independent ways, his leading role in the conservation and environmental protection movements, his key role in reforming Congress and political campaigns, and his pioneering role in opposing the Vietnam War.

Mo Udall sought the Democratic Party nomination in the 1976 presidential election, but was defeated by Jimmy Carter.

Mo Udall supported Ted Kennedy's strong challenge to Carter in the 1980 Democratic primary, and delivered the keynote address at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.

Mo Udall served as Chairman of the House Interior Committee from 1977 to 1991.

Mo Udall was born in 1922 in St Johns, Arizona, one of six children of Louisa and Levi Stewart Mo Udall.

Mo Udall's father was a lawyer who served as Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court from 1946 to 1960.

Mo Udall's mother was a writer keenly interested in Indian life and culture.

Mo Udall's father preached the importance of responsible people entering public service.

Mo Udall lost his right eye to a friend's pocket knife at the age of six, while the two were attempting to cut some string.

Mo Udall attempted to enlist in the Army Air Forces during World War II, and almost succeeded by covering his glass eye each time he was told to alternate during the eye exam.

Later, medical standards changed and Mo Udall served in the Army.

Mo Udall joined the Army Air Forces as a private in 1942 and later received his commission as an officer.

Mo Udall was a tall, Lincolnesque figure with a self-deprecating wit and easy manner.

Mo Udall once said that his physical stature and one eye kept him from ever having a date in high school, and led to his use of self-deprecating humor to survive.

Mo Udall ceased being active in church by the time he returned from military service.

Mo Udall was elected as the Pima County chief deputy attorney and county attorney.

Mo Udall taught labor law at the University of Arizona law school.

Mo Udall co-founded the Bank of Tucson, and the Catalina Savings and Loan Association, and in 1960 became president of Tucson's YMCA.

Mo Udall won the seat in his own right in 1962, and was reelected 13 more times.

Mo Udall faced only one other close race, in 1978, when he received 52 percent of the vote.

Mo Udall held the post until his resignation May 4,1991.

From 1977 until his retirement in 1991, Mo Udall chaired the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.

Mo Udall served as ranking member of the Committee of the Post Office and Civil Service, chairman of the Office of Technology Assessment and was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mo Udall fought for environmental protection, and expansion of the National Park System, ushered legislation through Congress absorbing 8 million acres into the federal wilderness system across 20 states, and attempted to restructure the energy industry.

Hostile campaigning by the nation's leading conservation organization, the Sierra Club, led to Mo Udall's bitter fight with them, and the eventual loss of their tax-exempt status, which some have blamed on Mo Udall's complaints about them to the Internal Revenue Service.

The projects were eventually abandoned, replaced with coal-fired powerplants that Mo Udall thought more polluting than the dams would have been.

In 1973, Mo Udall was named "Legislator of the Year" by the National Wildlife Federation.

Mo Udall helped write and pass the Alaska Lands Act of 1980, and landmark 1982 legislation addressing nuclear waste management.

Mo Udall challenged the arcane and Byzantine rules and protocols of the House of Representatives, demanding a reduction in the ability of powerful leaders to covertly control legislation and dominate committees.

Mo Udall gained early national political notoriety for being the first Congressman in the 20th Century to challenge a sitting Speaker of the House for his seat.

Mo Udall co-sponsored the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and was a key factor in its success.

Mo Udall co-sponsored the 1974 Campaign Reform Act, which was signed by President Ford.

Mo Udall fought for financial disclosure legislation, and disclosed his own finances and tax returns.

Mo Udall attempted to revise pay scales for federal employees and establish merit pay.

Ultimately, Mo Udall was one of the principal leaders effecting the first substantial reform of the US civil service system since the 1883 creation of that merit-based government-employment system.

Mo Udall compromised until getting a consensus bill before the whole House, fighting through additional opposition to success.

Mo Udall sought to change the Post Office Department from a purely governmental agency into a semiprivate organization.

Mo Udall was a key force in passage of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970.

In 1963, Mo Udall attempted to get cigarettes regulated by the Food and Drug Administration.

In 1976, Mo Udall ran for the Democratic nomination for President as a liberal alternative to Jimmy Carter, the former Governor of Georgia.

Mo Udall was projected the winner, exclaiming "Oh, how sweet it is".

Mo Udall finished second in the New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New York, Michigan, South Dakota, and Ohio primaries, and won the caucuses in his home state of Arizona, while running even with Carter in the New Mexico caucuses.

Mo Udall finished a distant second to Carter at the Democratic National Convention, where his name was placed in nomination by Archibald Cox, and Mo Udall's speech received great applause from his supporters.

Mo Udall had been a longtime critic of that church policy, and had ceased being an active member because of it.

Mo Udall supported Senator Edward Kennedy's challenge to President Carter in 1980, and Kennedy won the Arizona caucuses, one of only three wins for Kennedy in the West.

Mo Udall delivered the keynote speech at the 1980 Democratic National Convention, which was a typically witty Mo Udall speech.

Mo Udall considered running for president again in 1984, but he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1979 and his illness kept him on the sidelines.

At the convention that summer, Mo Udall introduced his former opponent, President Carter.

In 1996 Mo Udall received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Clinton.

Mo Udall was a high-spirited person who had a tendency to frequently start arguments.

Pat Mo Udall struggled emotionally due to the strain of raising six children while struggling with arthritis.

Mo Udall, who was opposed to the divorce, did not object to the dissolution of the marriage, mainly because he was more focused on politics than on his family.

Pat Mo Udall herself stated that she was "ashamed" by her decision to end the marriage.

Two years after the divorce, Mo Udall married Ella Lee Royston, a marriage that would last until Royston's suicide in 1988.