Gaylord Nelson, Father of Earth Day - MINDS@UW Home

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….2 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………..3 Conservation and Environmentalism…………………………………………….12 Origins of American Conservationism…………………….……………..12 Conservationism and Progressivism…………………………………….16 Silent Spring and the Rise of Environmentalism……………………….21 Gaylord Nelson’s Environmental Politics………………………………………27 Gaylord Nelson, Governor of Wisconsin………………………………...27 Gaylord Nelson, United States Senator…………………………………32 John F. Kennedy Conservation Tour……………………………………………37 Earth Day………………………………………………………………………………47 Gaylord Nelson’s Earth Day Tour…………………………………………………56 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….63 - 1 -
Abstract Senator Gaylord Nelson founded Earth Day, an important event in American environmental history. Nonetheless, there are significant gaps in the scholarly analysis of Nelson‟s overall contributions to the conservation and environmental movements. For the most part, scholars have focused on Earth Day itself, arguing that Nelson‟s brainchild was a watershed moment for Americans who worked for and cared about protecting the natural world. Consequently, their focus tends to be on Earth Day and subsequent contingent events in conservation history. While important, Earth Day would not have been as important as it was without the specific guidance and insight provided by Gaylord Nelson. This paper considers the senatorial career of Gaylord Nelson from 1963 - 1970, placing his work in context by briefly examining the history of American conservationism and environmentalism from 1864. I argue that while Earth Day was, in fact, a critical event, its significance is best seen in the light of what happened that day but also by what preceded it. It turns out that the real importance of Earth Day lies in its precursors as well as the events that followed, and that Gaylord Nelson was a singular figure in American history due to his unique abilities to build coalitions and bridge gaps between people and institutions of disparate beliefs and values. - 2 -
Page 1: Department of History University of
Page 5 and 6: environment on the political agenda
Page 7 and 8: [and] „captives of the establishm
Page 9 and 10: Senator Nelson‟s prescience and p
Page 11 and 12: The rise of Progressivism and its e
Page 13 and 14: Nelson‟s work in the Senate, I wi
Page 15 and 16: Marsh‟s argument focused on inten
Page 17 and 18: Theodore Roosevelt exerted influenc
Page 19 and 20: However, ultimately “…neither t
Page 21 and 22: Polk County Progressive Chairman.
Page 23 and 24: growth would be through ecological
Page 25 and 26: planned to build nine dams in the C
Page 27 and 28: Commission. ConEd wanted to pump Hu
Page 29 and 30: Nelson‟s social set.” On Novemb
Page 31 and 32: The unlikely issue of offshore oil
Page 33 and 34: Gaylord Nelson, United States Senat
Page 35 and 36: Nelson repeatedly invoked scientifi
Page 37 and 38: his audience. Nelson said, “My ow
Page 39 and 40: John Heritage, who served as Nelson
Page 41 and 42: Nelson responded that he could thin
Page 43 and 44: Nelson‟s reasoning was sound and
Page 45 and 46: esource conservation. The President
Page 47 and 48: The speech that President Kennedy g
Page 49 and 50: It was a time when people could see
Page 51 and 52: Monsanto, Proctor and Gamble, and C
Page 53 and 54:
them to issue Earth Day Proclamatio
Page 55 and 56:
conservationists‟ ideals just as
Page 57 and 58:
eflecting pool in San Francisco. 14
Page 59 and 60:
nonpartisan.” 144 Second, Nelson
Page 61 and 62:
speaking to and what he was trying
Page 63 and 64:
unparalleled affluence, but now may
Page 65 and 66:
and an environmentalist at others;
Page 67 and 68:
actually just one issue that stands
Page 69 and 70:
established himself as a leader amo
Page 71 and 72:
Bibliography Primary Sources Bayley
Page 73 and 74:
Christofferson, Bill. The Man from
Page 75 and 76:
Summers, Gregory. Consuming Nature:
Page 77:
Project Gutenberg. http://www.guten
show all

Gaylord Nelson, Father of Earth Day - MINDS@UW Home

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?