Udall, Stewart Lee

Udall, Stewart Lee (yOO'dôl) [key], 1920–, U.S. cabinet member, b. St. Johns, Ariz. After serving in World War II, Udall practiced law in Tucson until elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1954. As a member of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs he gained a reputation as a conservationist and as an advocate of public works. An early supporter of John F. Kennedy for the presidency, he became in Jan., 1961, the first Arizonan to hold a cabinet post. As Secretary of the Interior under both Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, he stressed government dam building to generate increased public power and advocated enlargement of the national park system. He subsequently wrote a syndicated newspaper column.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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