Gifford Pinchot: Leader of the Progressives

The progressive era was marked by feats of conservation, sanitation, and justice. The progressive influence was felt in politics, through various programs and institutions, and still endures today. The single most important force behind this movement was Gifford Pinchot, a conservationist, politician, and idealist who carefully wove his progressive inclinations through the politics, press, and even president of his time. Because of his powerful political influence, his potent progressive sentiments, and his enduring legacy, it can be safely said that Gifford Pinchot was the premier "Theodore Roosevelt Progressive" (Pinchot, 3).

As Chief Forester of the U.S. Forest Service under Roosevelt and an avid environmentalist at heart, Pinchot made great strides for environmentalism and progressivism. Starting at a young age, Pinchot set out to change America's view of environmentalism and forest management. Though he was born into money, attended Yale, and offered a lucrative business opportunity by his grandfather, Pinchot rejected this path to wealth and renown, and spent several years in other countries researching foreign forestry practices.

Pinchot's first opportunity to put his skills into practice came in 1892, when George Vanderbilt invited Pinchot to create an arboretum on his Biltmore Estate. Pinchot saw the opportunity as a chance to build "the first example in the United States of practical forest management on a large scale... Proving that conservation practices could be both beneficial for forests and still profitable, the Biltmore arboretum became a model for forest management around the world."

Six years later, Pinchot began to change the American government's organization and division of forest work when he was hired into the U.S. Division of Forestry. Pinchot worked to consolidate the many disorganized facets of the American forestry industry into one regulated system. Pinchot was later appointed to the United States Forest Service, and in 1903 began shaping the environmentalists of the future when he took a job as professor of Forestry at his alma mater, Yale University.

In 1904 came Pinchot's most important role in the Forest Service, when his close friend President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him Chief of Forestry. The difference Pinchot made in the Forest Service with this new power was immediately noticeable. Within his first twelve years as chief forester the number of nationally protected parks in the United States had exploded from thirty-two, in 1898, to one hundred and forty-nine by 1919. "While chief forester, Pinchot worked effectively as a political practitioner, moving the agency and its conservation mission to remarkable heights" (Steen, 10). Pinchot and Roosevelt worked harmoniously together, and were very likeminded on issues of the environment, which accounted in part for the great success of Pinchot's conservation efforts in these years.

In one of his most famous books, Breaking New Ground, Pinchot recalls the start of his career, when forestry was considered a novelty of a vocation: "When [I began], not a single American had made forestry his profession. Not an acre of timberland was being handled under the principles of forestry anywhere in America" (Pinchot, 1). Pinchot's main strategy regarding conservation was to, in a sense, commercialize the land. He opposed the belief held by some environmentalists that national land should be closed off and completely protected from the human touch, but instead believed in converting the land itself in to parks, gardens, and hiking trails, which could be enjoyed and valued by humans as parkland, and thus would never be destroyed to make way for housing or industry. He believed that if land was simply closed off from humans with 'no trespassing' signs that it would defeat the purpose of preserving it to begin with. He looked upon big cities very unfavorably, with the attitude that nature combined with civilization could produce a sort of simple harmony. He felt that the industrial revolution "produced a staggering array of goods and services for consumers, but the grimy, fetid, and massive urban areas that spread out around the new factories swallowed up what was once open space and robbed the citizenry - native and immigrant alike - of any breathing room" (Miller, 17). Pinchot was very insistent in his belief that preserving the land should go hand in hand with enjoying it.

His environmental prowess was not confined to the forest service, however, and nor was it confined only to the United States. In 1902 Pinchot made a journey to the Philippines, where he was charged with the task of constructing an effective forestry policy for the islands. In 1903 Roosevelt also took the liberty of appointing Pinchot to the Committee on Organization of Government Scientific Work, and the Commission on Public Lands. In subsequent years Roosevelt appointed him to the Commission on Department Methods (1905), the Inland Waterways Commission (1907), and the Commission on Country Life (1908). He was appointed Chairman of the National Conservation Commission, and Chairman of the Joint Committee on Conservation. He was appointed President of the National Coast Anti-Pollution League, a group not affiliated with the government, and was a member of the United States Food Administration in its infancy.

Many Progressives were successful at the task at which they were most passionate, in Pinchot's case, forestry, but the thing that sets Pinchot apart as the most important Progressive leader of his time was his extreme savvy in the political sphere. Having served as a governor, senatorial candidate, and close friend of President Roosevelt, Pinchot had extreme political influence with which to advance his message. In his many political roles, Pinchot focused first and foremost upon his two main progressive ideals. He fought avidly for the preservation of wildlife and wilderness, and for "overall justice for the common man" (Steen, 5).

Any other progressive leader might print pamphlets or books, go on tours orating about their beliefs and shaking hands, they might even go out into the muck of society and pull the lower class worker up by his bootstraps, forcing him into the just and noble life that was the Progressive ideal. But no progressive leader, no matter how passionate or active, had the political devices and courage that Pinchot had. If Pinchot had a problem with the government, he didn't have to campaign, write letters, or form a group to pass an initiative to make changes. He had only to speak with one of his closest friends: President Theodore Roosevelt.

Not only was Teddy Roosevelt a close friend of Pinchot's, but he tolerated Pinchot's controversial behaviors, and tended to agree with him, even on the most radical of points. Pinchot gave the progressives a persuasive voice in politics because Roosevelt trusted Pinchot's direction not as the guidance of a fellow politician, but as the guidance of a friend. Pinchot was elected to dozens of committees under Roosevelt, giving the progressives an effective voice in many major affairs of the time. Roosevelt held Pinchot's opinions in high esteem, and despite Pinchot's frequent stumbles into controversy, wasn't shy about giving him public praise: "He has done more than any man in this country for the preservation of forests...His is gifted with the utmost energy and the zeal that only comes to one who is wrapped up in his work; and in addition to these qualities, he has...excellent judgment and sound common sense" (Roosevelt, 47). Though it is doubtful that Pinchot ever took advantage of Roosevelt to advance his political ends, it is clear that Roosevelt's high opinion of him and his judgments helped the doctrines of the Progressive party become law.

Gifford Pinchot first emerged as a possible candidate for Pennsylvania's Governor in 1910, but at the time he had not yet been a resident of Pennsylavania for long enough to be a legitimate candidate. Four years later he campaigned for election to the U.S. Senate, but lost to Boies Penrose, who at the time was a powerful boss. Penrose died only seven years after this election.

The following gubernatorial election found the Republican Party divided because of the recent issues of women's rights and prohibition. Pinchot, whose wife ran three times for congress and once for governor in hopes of succeeding her husband, was in very good standing with the supporters of both these issues, and took sixty-one of the sixty-seven counties in Pennsylvania in the primaries, securing him a position as the republican candidate for governor. Though he carried an incredibly high number of counties, Pinchot won the primaries by only 9,259 votes. Luckily for Pinchot, his pro-female sentiments were widely known in the region, because this was the first election in Pennsylvania in which women were allowed to vote. In the final election his adversary, Democrat John McSparran, lost to Pinchot by over two-hundred and fifty thousand votes, securing him the position of Governor.

Pinchot had a very successful first term as governor and was known "for his accessibility to the public." His main focuses included the regulation of electricity companies, and the efficient restructuring of the Pennsylvania state government. Utilizing the celebrated Progressive ideal of frugality, Pinchot eliminated a 23 million dollar state deficit during his first term.

Revolutionizing Pennsylvania's ways of handling society's most delicate members, like the mentally ill, handicapped, and elderly, Pinchot revised laws about the care of such patients, and devised state-regulated aid programs for these individuals. Pinchot created a retirement system, a pension system resembling modern social security, and even attempted to have the state constitution revised, but facing resistance, settled for a new set of administrative codes instead.

Because the Pennsylvania constitution prevents a governor from having more than one consecutive term, when his time as governor was close to over Pinchot ran once more for the Senate. He came up third place in the polls behind William Vare and George Wharton, respectively. Because Pinchot was still governor at this time, it was his job to '"issue a certificate of election to Vare, but [Pinchot refused, and] wrote that the election was, "partly bought and partly stolen." After a U. S. Senate investigation, Vare was denied a seat because of fraud and corruption.' Pinchot's suspicions about Vare had proven correct, but Vare was a member of a very old political family, and thus had deep connections with which he hoped to upset Pinchot's political career as a form of revenge. Luckily for Pinchot, Vare had been very successful at making enemies even before this fleeting conflict, specifically "Joe Grundy, an influential Bucks County millionaire and foe of Vare, [who] was key to garnering support for Pinchot" in the following gubernatorial election in Pennsylvania, in which Vare sinisterly backed the democratic candidate (with the sole goal of keeping Pinchot out of office). Vare started anti-Pinchot groups, which he promoted as being against prohibition, and tied their ideals to the Democratic Party. Despite the corruption that Vare managed to impose, Pinchot won his second term as governor of Pennsylvania in 1930.

Though Pinchot's second term was overshadowed by the Great Depression, he was still able to push a few more of the Progressive's wishes through the state legislature. He facilitated a reduction in utility costs, set up monetary support for the blind (to supplement his older regulations for the disabled), and passed a few key laws that controlled monopolies and corporate abuses of the people. He improved over 20,000 miles of roads in the state (partially to provide a greater number of jobs requiring a lower skill level), and created the Sanitary Water Board.

Though not all of Pinchot's controversial ideas were met with praise, and he was criticized by both his peers and the press, Pinchot hatched many important ideas, many of which shape what America is today. Journalists often tackled Pinchot's policies as being so supportive of the environment that they were detrimental to humans, and he was once called: 'a man who "thinks more of trees than people"' (Miller, 206). Though this may be an unfair asessment of Pinchot's sentiments, it is true that he had a love of the environment almost unparalleled in his time, and wasn't shy about defending it. Interestingly enough, Pinchot's fervent protection of the environment that was so criticized in his own time is now celebrated in politicians. Today, any politician without a stance on improving the environment is seen as overlooking one of the country's most significant problems.

In hopes of increasing knowledge and understanding of the natural world, Pinchot authored several books with his own unique spin on environmental issues and what should be done about them. He was completely unrestrained with his message in these novels, and was described as having: 'a "remarkable ability to expose himself to, and change in the face of, fresh thinking"' (p. 327). Important titles include The Fight for Conservation, The Training of a Forester, and his autobiographical account of his own fight for conservation, Breaking New Ground. His works are celebrated and scorned, today as they were in his own time, for being both beneficial to our world, and harmful to it.

Among his critics was prominent environmentalist John Muir, who disapproved of Pinchot's feeling that 'commercializing' the land was the best way to preserve it. Adding to Muir's angst was Pinchot's public fame and political influence, which made his message the favored one of the time. John Muir was only one of many environmentalists who felt that Pinchot was not a true conservationist, and that his prominence in politics was unfortunate given his principles. Many such dissenting environmentalists had supported Vare's anti-Pinchot group prior to Pinchot's last election as governor, feeling that a governor who wasn't terribly concerned with the environment was better than one who wanted to reform it in the wrong ways.

Despite the detractors, it is Pinchot's controversial teachings on conservation that make up the sentiments of modern environmentalists. As testament to his impact on society, Gifford Pinchot State Park in northern York County, and Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington State are now permanent fixtures on the map, as well as hundreds of national parks and federally protected stretches of wilderness that have sprung up since his reign. Thanks to Pichot, Forestry is no longer just a fascination of concerned Progressives: it is an industry, a discipline, and an important part of the sustenance of American culture.

A powerhouse of progressivism, Pinchot made great strides for the progressives' concern's about the environment, and used his far-reaching influence to further the aspirations of progressives in every other field as well. He 'has remained a "galvanizing force" whose legacy lies "in his greening," a product of his "intellectual openness and moral engagement"' (p. 376).Pinchot's Political genius, important connections, tireless efforts and thriving legacy make him, without a doubt, the most important leader of the progressive movement.

Bibliography

Primary:

Addams, Jane. The spirit of Youth and the City Streets. New York: Macmillan, 1909.

De Witt, Benjamin Parke. "Excerpt from the Progressive Movement." Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group. 2003.

Eastman, Max. "Excerpt from Knowledge and Revolution." January 1913. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group, 2003.

Pinchot, Gifford. Breaking New Ground. (commemorative edition.) New York: Island Press, 1998. (Originally published by the Estate of Gifford Pinchot, 1947)

Roosevelt, Theodore. Theodore Roosevelt, an Autobiography. New York: Da Copo Press, 1985.

Steen, Harold (ed.). The Conservation Diaries of Gifford Pinchot. Chicago: Forest History Society, 2001.

Secondary:

Allison, Robert J. "Women in the Progressive Era." History in Dispute, Vol. 3: American Social and Political Movements, 1900-1945. St James Press, 2000.

Fink, Leon. Progressive Intellectuals and the Dilemmas of Democratic Commitment. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997.

Hines, Gary. Midnight Forests: A Story of Gifford Pinchot and Our National Forests. New Jersey: Boyds Mills Press, 2005.

McGerr, Michael. A Fierce Discontent: the Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920. New York; Free Press, 2003.

Miller, Char. Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism. New York: Sherwater Books, 2004.

Stromquist, Shelton. Reinventing the People: the Progressive Movment and the Problem of Class. Chicago: Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois, 2006.