Stewart Udall

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

Stewart Udall
1920 – 2010

Udall passed away at home in Santa Fe at the age of 90.

His life has been noted on so many other sites that I have little to offer other than the dignity in this portrait of an elder statesman.

So what’s wrong with this picture?

The photograph was taken November 11, 2007, during the announcement for Senate of his son, then US Congressman Tom Udall, and wife, Jill, to right and the Congressman's step-daughter Amanda Cooper, to the left and her husband Jim Noel far left.

Stewart Udall was more than a man of his party. As Secretary of Interior during the administrations of Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, It was a time when I was becoming aware of the importance of conservation and of environmental issues. He transcended the partisan divide.

Under his administration a number of National Parks were added:

Massachusetts’ Cape Cod National Seashore, August 7, 1961.

California’s Point Reyes National Seashore, September 13, 1962.

Utah’s Canyonlands National Park September 12, 1964; this is Mesa Arch at sunrise.

This location is a favored photographic spot. This image denotes a problem inherent to the protection of wild places. The bush had been broken on the left side; probably by some photographer who wanted to rid them self of a distracting element.

Arizona’s Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National Monuments were created on December 8, 1906. They were designated a single National Park on December 9, 1962. These Petroglyphs are at Puerco Pueblo. The Painted Desert shows off a wide range of colored layers of earth. The park is near his birthplace, St, John's.

Washington states’ North Cascades National Park October 2, 1968.

California’s Redwood National Park, October 2, 1968.

During Udall's tenure, Texan J.C. Hunter, Junior, sold his Frijole Ranch to the National Park Service in 1966 and it was combined with land that was given to the park service in 1959. The Guadalupe Mountains National Park was established in 1972.