Oil Spills And Federal Leadership

Walter Hickel’s death comes at a time when the nation is focused on the causes and consequences of offshore oil spills.  As the newly-minted Secretary of the Interior —literally newly-minted, having only been confirmed six days earlier— Wally Hickel had to deal with...

New York Times Obituary of Walter Hickel

The New York Times has just put up a lengthy obituary of Walter J. Hickel, two-time Alaskan Governor and President Nixon’s first Secretary of the Interior who died last night in Anchorage. With Governor Hickel’s passing, George P. Shultz (Secretary of Labor,...

Hickel Was One Of A Kind

Wally Hickel was one of a kind. When President Nixon appointed him Secretary of the Interior, he asked me to help Wally get his office organized. Secretary Hickel became my first boss in the Nixon Administration and my life long friend. When Frank Sinatra sings, “I...

Walter J. Hickel   1919-2010

“The conservationists cheered me when we fought against pollution or when we preserved park lands; they attacked me when we advanced the Alaska Pipeline and the North America energy grid. My friends and associates in business were equally perplexed. I was not...

RN’s Conservationist

Former Alaska Governor and RN Interior Secretary Walter Hickel died today. He was 90. Hickel was a trail blazer for President Nixon’s environmental agenda early on, leading the cleanup after the 1969 Santa Barbara oil rig explosion and conservation efforts for the...