The Environmental Protection Agency : President Richard Nixon

What really caused the sudden upsurge in concern for preserving America’s environment at the beginning of the twentieth century? To what extent was this concern motivated by nostalgia for an older America, and to what extent by a desire to preserve nature and natural resources for future generations?

During the late 1960s, the environmental movement focused mostly on public health and industrial themes. During this time of initial modern development, it received little attention from the champions of the social movements of the times such as civil rights and women’s equality. Most of the emphasis on environmental matters in these early years came from environmentally driven sociologists such as Paul Goodman, Murray Boochkin, and Herbert Marcuse. Many were exhilarated to become the heads of ecologically based institutions that would fight against government and corporation ecological mistreatments. Often times they would research and issue articles that pointed out abuses that directly affected the common household such as Boochkin’s “The Problems of Chemicals in Foods.” This type of research pointed out new types of environmental issues that either did not exist or did not matter before World War II and just now became identified. These types of papers had a message that reached everybody not just select individuals like many of the previous issues such as water management, and land

Jobs and protecting the environment, important or not? George Will wrote his essay, “What Price Clean Air?” to convey the message that most of the Navajo Nation run and work at the power plants in Arizona, but as the growing change in protecting the environment, those Native Americans are forced to alter their livelihoods. George Will directs his essay to the American people, to persuade them to help find a change. Using the best equipment and spending billions of dollars on new technology may be affected by the uncertain environmental movement. With ethos, logos, and pathos, George Will effectively uses the rhetorical devices to convey his argument about the social and economic damage brought on by the federal government.

He announced it was the first symbolic act of “the environmental decade.” Between the years of 1970 and 1972, Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency and signed laws including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Another thing he did was sign executive orders and international agreements on environmental issues. In early 1973, an international conference was held to discuss endangered species. The product of the conference was the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The U.S. needed a new legislation to meet some of the agreement’s provisions and it led to the Endangered Species Act. In Nixon’s State of the Union speech in 1973, he called for stronger wildlife protection. The results of these environmental laws and international agreements made the public extremely happy. Even though Nixon’s intentions were selfish when he got involved in environmental concerns, he responded unquestionably positive. All his hard work helped pave the way for a cleaner society.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency or EPA was initially proposed in 1970 by then President Richard Nixon. The agency was created to build on other environmental regulations enacted by the federal government and to consolidate those efforts to be managed by one government agency. It was also a reaction to the public’s growing concern over pollution and other environmental issues. Chemical waste was commonly released into bodies of water creating unsafe drinking water and rivers catching fire. Industrial air pollution, such as acid rain and smog, was also affecting manufacturing cities with coal-powered plants. There was little serious regulation on pollution until major environment laws started being passed by Congress in the early sixties.

The modern Environment Movement began with the passing of the Wilderness Act of 1964. The act established a National Wilderness System and created 9 millions acres. The main influence and writer of the act Howard Zahniser, who felt that we needed wilderness as it takes us away from technology that gives us perspective of mastering the environment rather than being a part of it (Nash, 2001). With the passing of the act Americans questioned both preservation and conservation. A new culture emerged in America that rejected societal norms and praised independence and freedom. This culture developed in the youth of America and sparked change in preservation growth and the overall outlook of wilderness.

This is something that we have attempted to change over time, but have not stopped. Theodore Roosevelt called for Americans to consider conservation of the environment, but focused on the conservation of resources over the conservation of ecosystems and indigenous species. (as cited in Merchant, 2012, pp. 333-334). This type of logical use conservation is typical in American history. We have had a strong history of avid hunters supporting the conservation of animals so that their species would remain available to sportsmen. One example of this is John James Audubon. Audubon was an avid hunter. He killed birds in mass numbers in his research in Florida (as cited in Merchant, 2012, pp.178-180). However the famous Audubon Society is the organization responsible for hiring and paying Guy Bradley, the first game warden in the Florida everglades (McIver, 2003). Hunters have an interest in preserving the species they desire to hunt, and in this desire they require natural ecosystems be protected. This protection of the ecosystem ensures that their valued game stays available for hunting. However, women were at the forefront of the conservation movement in many states. Carolyn Merchant describes women’s groups across the country protecting different facets of the environment. One example was the Audubon movement created in opposition to the plume industry. These movements helped create legislation that helped protect some plume birds as early as 1913. (Merchant, 2012, pp.355-363). Eventually the land that was being conserved for eventual use were slowly being transformed into protected parks that are intended to preserve the scenery and its plant and animal inhabitants for the future. The National Parks Act of 1916 was the first to establish large national parks in the United States (as cited in Merchant, 2012, pp.371-372).

The 1970’s represent a pivotal point in history that rewrote how America viewed its environmental policies- both on a policymaker and citizen scientist standpoint. As the public became more aware of environmental issues, concern about pollution, improper disposal, dwindling resources, radiation and poisoning enraptured a growing number of supporters. These supporters made it so that unlike the Progressive Era’s conservation movement (1890’s-1920’s), which was mainly elitists, this modern movement was pushed by “the common man.” It was an era that celebrated leaders such as John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thomas Jefferson. One of those leaders in the forefront of these radical changes was Congressman Morris K.

Richard Milhous Nixon, 37th president of the United States, was born January 9, 1913 in Yorba Linda, California. Nixon was one of the most controversial politicians. He used the communist scare of the late forties and early fifties to catapult his career, but as president he eased tension with the Soviet Union and opened relations with Red China. He was president during the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War.

On September 26, 1960, John Fitzgerald Kennedy met Richard Milhous Nixon in the first nationally televised presidential debate in American history. The candidates clashed on a variety of domestic issues, including education, infrastructure, health care, and economic policies. The audience was unprecedented in size. Approximately seventy million Americans watched the debate. By the end, Kennedy was a star. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike lauded his poise, confidence, and charisma. On the other hand, viewers criticized Nixon’s haggard expression and sweaty countenance. As it turns out, television had the greatest influence on these perceptions. Those who watched the debate overwhelmingly asserted Kennedy’s clear victory, while

In Devoted to Nature: The Religious Roots of American Environmentalism, American University Professor of Philosophy and Religion Evan Berry writes, “The roots of environmentalism grew in religious soil.” This truth, while perhaps surprising to some, is made self-evident in the life and work of John Muir, California’s famous mountain man and naturalist who is better known today as “the father of American environmentalism.” In his environmental biography, The Young John Muir, author Steven J. Holmes writes, “For scholars and the general public alike, John Muir has come to stand as one of the patron saints of twentieth-century American environmental activity…” Since the 19th century, environmentalists have been following in Muir’s ecological footsteps, striving to preserve the beauty of America’s wilderness. Interestingly enough, however, the all-powerful driving force behind Muir’s concerted efforts was something that might come as a surprise to modern environmentalists—religion. For Muir, enlightenment was to be found in nature: in the cloudless azure sky, the golden light that filters through verdant forest canopies, the pastoral silence and midnight’s map of constellations.

The public has had strong influences on initiating the actions of the Regan Administration and the Clinton Administration on environmental policies. During the Regan administration, Anne Gorsuch head of the EPA and James Watt secretary of the interior both resigned due to OIRA procedure and activities which negatively affected environmental protections. The weakening of the EPA during Presidents Regan’s first term was influenced to change in his second term as president due to public opinion. During the Clinton Administration, Bruce Babbit, secretary of the interior launched a campaign to change western land use policies and to raise grazing fees on public land. The ranchers and their representatives in congress advocated to have the proposals

During this period under the Truman Administration, there was an overwhelming societal belief that national security concerns trump environmental safety. As a matter of fact, there was zero concern from the federal government towards environmental safety, as evidenced by the United States Federal Government Spending for the Fiscal Year of 1950. Zero concern equalling zero dollars being spent on ‘pollution abatement’, and most appalling ‘protection of biodiversity

Another concern Dealing with, is the decommissioning of a nuclear plant and the challenges that are likely to occur during the cleaning of the material waste such as air and water pollution which harms the community, the devastating story, Fukushima

President Richard Nixon, he created many great accomplishments and policies on the environment. The many great accomplishments and policies he created were, The National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act, the Water Quality Improvement Act of 1970, the Endangered Species Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Richard Nixon was considered to be the 2nd greenest president in the United States. In addition, Nixon was the first president to visit China and reset the Sino-U.S. relationship during the Cold War. The start