Dear HCN,
One item in Ed Marston’s
piece on Bruce Babbitt (HCN, 5/1/95) cries out for correction. It
wasn’t Easterners who presided over setting aside “huge tracts of
Alaska as natural.” It was Congressman Morris King Udall, born in
Arizona, descendent of Mormon pioneers, quintessential Westerner
and ultimate pragmatist.
As we listen to the
ranting of ideologues on all sides, we might consider the
accomplishments of this witty man, master of the art of the deal,
compromiser and politician. One thing he never did was declare war
on a group of people or sector of the economy. He is still alive in
a VA hospital in Washington, D.C., a victim of Parkinson’s. Some of
us miss him a lot.
Priscilla
Robinson
Tucson,
Arizona
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Quintessential Westerner.
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