40 Facts About Stewart Udall

Stewart Lee Udall was an American politician and later, a federal government official who belonged to the Democratic Party.

Stewart Udall was born on January 31,1920, in Saint Johns, Arizona, to Louisa Lee Udall and Levi Stewart Udall.

Stewart Udall had five siblings: Inez, Elma, Morris, Eloise, and David Burr.

Stewart Udall was remembered by his mother as a child with tremendous energy and an unquenchable curiosity.

Stewart Udall attended the University of Arizona for two years until World War II.

Stewart Udall served four years in the Air Force as an enlisted gunner on a B-24 Liberator, flying fifty missions over Western Europe from Italy with the 736th Bomb Squadron, 454th Bomb Group, for which he received the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters.

Stewart Udall returned to the University of Arizona in 1946, where he attended law school and played guard on a championship basketball team.

Mo and Stewart Udall were respected student athletes and Mo was student body president.

Stewart Udall received his law degree and was admitted to the Arizona bar in 1948.

Stewart Udall began his law practice in Tucson shortly thereafter.

Stewart Udall became increasingly active in public service, being elected to the School Board of Amphitheater Public Schools in Tucson in June 1951.

In 1954, Stewart Udall was elected to the US House of Representatives from Arizona's Second District.

Stewart Udall served with distinction in the House for three terms on the Interior and Education and Labor committees.

From 1961 to 1969 Udall served as Secretary of the Interior under presidents John F Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson.

Stewart Udall played a key role in the enactment of environmental laws such as the Clear Air, Water Quality and Clean Water Restoration Acts and Amendments, the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, the National Trail System Act of 1968, and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968.

In 1961, weeks after becoming the Secretary of Interior Stewart Udall told Washington Redskins owner, George Preston Marshall, that he had to integrate the football team as every other franchise in the NFL already had, as a condition of use of the newly built and federally owned District of Columbia Stadium.

On July 27,1962, Stewart Udall sent a letter to the United States Geological Survey's board chairman to discuss policy on the use of ethnic slurs on the organization's topographical maps product.

In September 1962, Stewart Udall was summoned unexpectedly into a meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev while on a tour of the Soviet Union.

Stewart Udall supported a plan created by the US Army Corps of Engineers to construct the Tocks Island Dam for the purpose of creating a reservoir for the benefit of the New York City water supply.

Stewart Udall helped spark a cultural renaissance in America by setting in motion initiatives that led to the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the revived Ford's Theatre.

Stewart Udall was a staunch supporter of Rachel Carson and her work.

Stewart Udall had the foresight as Secretary of the Interior, to spearhead the use of NASA satellites to produce images of Earth from space for scientific research, leading to development of the Earth Resources Observation and Science center at the US Geological Survey.

In October 1972, Stewart Udall published a seminal article in The Atlantic Monthly, entitled "The Last Traffic Jam".

Stewart Udall later devoted his time to writing books and articles about environmental issues and to practicing law.

In 1980, Stewart Udall was elected to the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board and commissioned as a member of the Morrison Institute.

Stewart Udall was presented with the Ansel Adams Award in 1986, the Wilderness Society's highest conservation award.

Stewart Udall was awarded the United Nations Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement.

Stewart Udall received the Common Cause Public Service Achievement Award for his lifelong protection of the environment and defense of American citizens who were victims of nuclear weapons testing.

Stewart Udall published The Quiet Crisis and the Next Generation in 1988, a revised edition with nine new chapters of The Quiet Crisis.

In November 2009, Congress enacted legislation to honor Stewart Udall by renaming the Morris K Udall Foundation as the Morris K Udall and Stewart L Udall Foundation, in recognition of the historic Interior Secretary's contributions.

Stewart Udall, who represented Southern Arizona in Congress from 1955 to 1961, is Morris Udall's older brother.

Congress recognized that the Stewart Udall legacy really was a shared legacy, rooted in the work of the Stewart Udall brothers, which dominated environmental reform for three decades.

Stewart Udall agreed to serve as Chairman Emeritus of the VillageTown Stewards.

The video was filmed coincidentally on the Summer solstice of 2009 and Stewart Udall died nine months later on the Spring equinox.

Whether in the skies above Italy in World War II, in Congress, or as Secretary of the Interior, Stewart Udall left an indelible mark on this nation and inspired countless Americans who will continue his fight for clean air, clean water, and to maintain our many natural treasures.

The westernmost spot, Point Stewart Udall, Guam, is named for his brother Mo.

In 1967, Stewart Udall received the National Audubon Society's highest honor, the Audubon Medal.

Stewart Udall was married to Ermalee Webb with whom he had two daughters, and four sons,.

Stewart Udall was the brother of US Representative and 1976 presidential candidate, Mo Udall; he served as Mo's campaign manager during the Democratic primary election, which Mo lost to Jimmy Carter.

Stewart Udall was the last surviving original member of Kennedy's cabinet.