Harold L. Ickes
Encyclopedia
Harold LeClair Ickes (ˈɪkəs ; March 15, 1874 – February 3, 1952) was a United States
administrator
and politician
. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior
for 13 years, from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office, and the second longest serving Cabinet member in U.S. history next to James Wilson
. Ickes was responsible for implementing much of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
's "New Deal
" and is the father of Harold M. Ickes
. He and Labor Secretary Frances Perkins
were the only original members of the Roosevelt cabinet who remained in office for his entire presidency.
, Pennsylvania
, Ickes moved to Chicago
at the age of 16 upon his mother's death and attended Englewood High School there. He was the class president while at Englewood High School. After graduating, he worked his way through the University of Chicago
, finishing with a B.A.
in 1897. At Chicago, Ickes was a charter member re-establishing the Illinois Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta
.
He first worked as a newspaper reporter for The Chicago Record and later for the Chicago Tribune
. He obtained a law degree from the University of Chicago
in 1907 but rarely practiced. Instead, he became active in reform politics.
in Chicago
, Ickes was never part of the establishment. He was unsatisfied with Republican policies and joined Theodore Roosevelt
's Bull Moose
movement in 1912. After returning to the Republican fold, he campaigned for progressive
Republicans Charles Evans Hughes
(1916) and Hiram Johnson
(1920 and 1924).
He fought lengthy and legendary battles first with Chicago figures Samuel Insull
, the utilities magnate, William Hale Thompson
, the mayor, and Robert R. McCormick
, the owner of The Chicago Tribune. Later he had an ongoing battle with Thomas E. Dewey, the presidential candidate.
Although locally active in Chicago politics, he was unknown nationally until 1933. As part of this involvement, Ickes was involved in Chicago's social and political affairs; among his many activities include his work for the City Club of Chicago
. After Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, he began putting together his cabinet. His advisers thought the Democratic
president needed a progressive Republican to attract middle-of-the-road voters. He sought out Hiram Johnson
, a Republican Senator at the time who had supported Roosevelt in the campaign, but Johnson was uninterested. Johnson did, however, recommend an old ally, Ickes.
Ickes was a strong supporter of both civil rights
and civil liberties
. He had been the president of the Chicago NAACP
, and supported African American
contralto
Marian Anderson
when the Daughters of the American Revolution
prohibited her from performing in DAR Constitution Hall
. He was an outspoken critic of the Japanese American internment
during World War II
. Also, as an official delegate to the founding United Nations
conference in San Francisco, Ickes advocated for stronger language promoting self-rule and eventual independence for the world's colonies.
. Here he directed billions of dollars of projects designed to lure private investment and provide employment during the depths of the Great Depression
. His management of the PWA budget and his opposition to corruption earned him the name "Honest Harold". He regularly presented projects to Roosevelt for the President's personal approval.
Ickes' support of PWA power plants put increased financial pressure on private power companies during the Great Depression
, which had both positive and negative effects. He tried to enforce the Raker Act
against the city of San Francisco
, an act of Congress which specified that because the dam at Hetch Hetchy Valley
in Yosemite National Park
was on public land, no private profit could be derived from the development. The city continues selling the power to PG&E
, which is then resold at a profit.
He also fought to establish the Kings Canyon National Park
, using Ansel Adams
' photos to persuade Congress to send the bill to President Roosevelt in 1940.
After the Hindenburg disaster
, Nazi Germany
sought to obtain helium
to replace the flammable hydrogen
in their fleet of dirigibles. Ickes opposed the sale, although practically every other member of the Cabinet supported it, along with the President himself. Ickes would not back down, fearing military use of the dirigible. Germany could not obtain the helium from other sources. Hence, Ickes virtually shut down the German dirigible program himself.
The Saudi Aramco
oil corporation, through Secretary of the Interior Ickes, got Roosevelt to agree to Lend-Lease
aid to Saudi Arabia, which would involve the US government in protecting American interests there and create a shield for ARAMCO.
Between June and October 1941, during a projected oil shortage, Ickes was successful in issuing orders to close gasoline stations in the Eastern United States between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Ickes was a terrific orator and the only man in the Roosevelt administration who could rebut John L. Lewis
of the United Mine Workers, who often delivered radio addresses critical of the Roosevelt Administration.
In the 1930s Ickes ordered the desegregation of national parks, including those in the South.
on the eve of Thanksgiving
1938, Ickes proposed offering Alaska
as a "haven for Jewish refugees
from Germany
and other areas in Europe where the Jews are subjected to oppressive restrictions." This proposal was designed to bypass normal immigration quota
s, because Alaska was not a state. Ickes had toured Alaska that summer, meeting with local officials to discuss how to attract greater development, both for economic reasons and to bolster security in an area so close to Japan
and Russia
and to develop a plan to attract international professionals, including European Jews. In his press conference, he pointed out that 200 families had been relocated from the Dust Bowl
to Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Valley
. The Department of the Interior prepared a report detailing the advantages of the plan, which was introduced as a bill by Utah
's Senator William H. King
and California
's Democratic Representative Franck R. Havenner
. The plan met with little support from American Jews, however, with the exception of the Labor Zionists of America
; most Jews agreed with Rabbi
Stephen Samuel Wise
of the American Jewish Congress
that the plan, if implemented, would deliver "a wrong and hurtful impression ... that Jews are taking over some part of the country for settlement". The final blow was dealt when Roosevelt suggested a limit of only 10,000 immigrants a year for five years, with a maximum of 10 percent Jews. He later reduced even that number and never publicly mentioned the plan.
During World War II Ickes told the Congress of American-Soviet Friendship in November 1943, "In certain respects we could do well to learn from Russia
; yes, even to imitate Russia."
Although he stayed on in President Harry S. Truman
's cabinet after Roosevelt died in April 1945, he resigned from office within a year. In February 1946, Truman nominated Edwin W. Pauley
to be Secretary of the Navy. Pauley was the former Democratic Party national treasurer. He once suggested to Ickes that $300,000 in campaign funds could be raised if Ickes would drop his fight for title to oil-rich offshore lands. Ickes testified to this during Pauley's Senate confirmation hearing. This led to a confrontation with Truman who had suggested that Ickes's memory might have been mistaken. Ickes wrote a 2,000-word resignation letter, reading in part: "I don't care to stay in an Administration where I am expected to commit perjury
for the sake of the party.... I do not have a reputation for dealing recklessly with the truth." Truman accepted the resignation and gave Ickes three days to leave. Soon after, Pauley declined the nomination.
, in 1937. His wife Jane managed the farm and Ickes grew flowers as a hobby. President Roosevelt spent occasional weekends there before the establishment of "Shangri-La", the presidential retreat now known as Camp David
. After he resigned from the Cabinet in 1946, Ickes retired to his farm but remained active on the political scene, working as a syndicated columnist.
In December 1945, Ickes accepted the position of executive chairman of the newly founded Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, a group that criticized Truman's lack of fidelity to FDR's principles. A thousand people attended the Hotel banquet that celebrated his appointment. He resigned in November 1946, unhappy with the organization's failure to pay him the agreed-upon salary and unwilling to support the organization of a new political party to support Henry Wallace
's presidential race.
. In response to Ickes' comments, Senator Styles Bridges
called Ickes "a common scold
puffed up by high office." Republican Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce
once famously remarked that Ickes had "the mind of a commissar and the soul of a meataxe."
In September 1944, Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican nominee for president, promised to fire Ickes if elected. Ickes penned a letter of resignation to Dewey and it was widely printed in the press. Ickes wrote, in part:
and Elizabeth Jane. He also adopted two children while married to Anna; Robert and Frances.
His sister was Mary Ickes, who was married to John B. Watson
, a famous American psychologist who lost his post at Johns Hopkins University due to a scandal involving his affair with a graduate student named Rosalie Rayner and subsequent divorce from Mary Ickes.
"I think you come as close as anybody when you suggest that it rhymes with sickness with the n omitted. The e is halfway between a short e and short u": hence, ˈɪkəs . His son Harold M. Ickes
, however, pronounces the name ˈɪkiːz .
The correct spelling of Ickes' middle name is undetermined. It is sometimes spelled Le Clair, Le Claire or LeClare.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
administrator
Independent agencies of the United States government
Independent agencies of the United States federal government are those agencies that exist outside of the federal executive departments...
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior
United States Secretary of the Interior
The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
for 13 years, from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office, and the second longest serving Cabinet member in U.S. history next to James Wilson
James Wilson (U.S. politician)
James "Tama Jim" Wilson was a Scotland-born United States politician who served as United States Secretary of Agriculture for sixteen years during three presidencies, from 1897 to 1913. He holds the record as the longest-serving United States Cabinet member.-Personal background:Wilson was born in...
. Ickes was responsible for implementing much of President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
's "New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
" and is the father of Harold M. Ickes
Harold M. Ickes
Harold McEwen Ickes was White House Deputy Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton. He is the son of Harold L. Ickes, who was Secretary of the Interior under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ickes is a graduate of Stanford University and Columbia Law School. Ickes was a student civil rights activist in...
. He and Labor Secretary Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins
Frances Perkins , born Fannie Coralie Perkins, was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor movement into the New Deal coalition...
were the only original members of the Roosevelt cabinet who remained in office for his entire presidency.
Early years
Born in AltoonaAltoona, Pennsylvania
-History:A major railroad town, Altoona was founded by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1849 as the site for a shop complex. Altoona was incorporated as a borough on February 6, 1854, and as a city under legislation approved on April 3, 1867, and February 8, 1868...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, Ickes moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
at the age of 16 upon his mother's death and attended Englewood High School there. He was the class president while at Englewood High School. After graduating, he worked his way through the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, finishing with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1897. At Chicago, Ickes was a charter member re-establishing the Illinois Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...
.
He first worked as a newspaper reporter for The Chicago Record and later for the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
. He obtained a law degree from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1907 but rarely practiced. Instead, he became active in reform politics.
Politics
Initially a RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Ickes was never part of the establishment. He was unsatisfied with Republican policies and joined Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
's Bull Moose
Progressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
movement in 1912. After returning to the Republican fold, he campaigned for progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
Republicans Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes
Charles Evans Hughes, Sr. was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican politician from New York. He served as the 36th Governor of New York , Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States , United States Secretary of State , a judge on the Court of International Justice , and...
(1916) and Hiram Johnson
Hiram Johnson
Hiram Warren Johnson was a leading American progressive and later isolationist politician from California; he served as the 23rd Governor from 1911 to 1917, and as a United States Senator from 1917 to 1945.-Early life:...
(1920 and 1924).
He fought lengthy and legendary battles first with Chicago figures Samuel Insull
Samuel Insull
Samuel Insull was an Anglo-American innovator and investor based in Chicago who greatly contributed to creating an integrated electrical infrastructure in the United States. Insull was notable for purchasing utilities and railroads using holding companies, as well as the abuse of them...
, the utilities magnate, William Hale Thompson
William Hale Thompson
William Hale Thompson was Mayor of Chicago from 1915 to 1923 and again from 1927 to 1931. Known as "Big Bill", Thompson was the last Republican to serve as Mayor of Chicago, and ranks among the most unethical mayors in American history.Thompson was born in Boston, Massachusetts to William Hale...
, the mayor, and Robert R. McCormick
Robert R. McCormick
Robert Rutherford "Colonel" McCormick was a member of the McCormick family of Chicago who became owner and publisher of the Chicago Tribune newspaper...
, the owner of The Chicago Tribune. Later he had an ongoing battle with Thomas E. Dewey, the presidential candidate.
Although locally active in Chicago politics, he was unknown nationally until 1933. As part of this involvement, Ickes was involved in Chicago's social and political affairs; among his many activities include his work for the City Club of Chicago
City Club of Chicago
The City Club of Chicago is a nonpartisan, nonprofit membership organization intended to foster civic responsibility, promote public issues, and provide a forum for open political debate. Founded in 1903, it is the longest-running public policy forum in Chicago.- History :When the City Club began,...
. After Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, he began putting together his cabinet. His advisers thought the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
president needed a progressive Republican to attract middle-of-the-road voters. He sought out Hiram Johnson
Hiram Johnson
Hiram Warren Johnson was a leading American progressive and later isolationist politician from California; he served as the 23rd Governor from 1911 to 1917, and as a United States Senator from 1917 to 1945.-Early life:...
, a Republican Senator at the time who had supported Roosevelt in the campaign, but Johnson was uninterested. Johnson did, however, recommend an old ally, Ickes.
Ickes was a strong supporter of both civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
and civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
. He had been the president of the Chicago NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
, and supported African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
contralto
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson was an African-American contralto and one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century...
when the Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
prohibited her from performing in DAR Constitution Hall
DAR Constitution Hall
DAR Constitution Hall is a concert hall in Washington, D.C. It was built in 1929 by the Daughters of the American Revolution to house its annual convention when membership delegations outgrew Memorial Continental Hall. Later, the two buildings were connected by a third structure housing the DAR...
. He was an outspoken critic of the Japanese American internment
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Also, as an official delegate to the founding United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
conference in San Francisco, Ickes advocated for stronger language promoting self-rule and eventual independence for the world's colonies.
Secretary of the Interior
Ickes served simultaneously in several major roles for Roosevelt. Although he was the Secretary of the Interior, he was better known to the public for his simultaneous work as the director of the Public Works AdministrationPublic Works Administration
The Public Works Administration , part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933 in response to the Great Depression...
. Here he directed billions of dollars of projects designed to lure private investment and provide employment during the depths of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. His management of the PWA budget and his opposition to corruption earned him the name "Honest Harold". He regularly presented projects to Roosevelt for the President's personal approval.
Ickes' support of PWA power plants put increased financial pressure on private power companies during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, which had both positive and negative effects. He tried to enforce the Raker Act
Raker Act
The Raker Act was an act of the United States Congress that permitted building of the O'Shaughnessy Dam and flooding of Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park, California. It is named for John E. Raker, its chief sponsor...
against the city of San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, an act of Congress which specified that because the dam at Hetch Hetchy Valley
Hetch Hetchy Valley
Hetch Hetchy Valley is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in California. It is currently completely flooded by O'Shaughnessy Dam, forming the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. The Tuolumne River fills the reservoir. Upstream from the valley lies the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne. The reservoir...
in Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite National Park is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. The park covers an area of and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain...
was on public land, no private profit could be derived from the development. The city continues selling the power to PG&E
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
The Pacific Gas and Electric Company , commonly known as PG&E, is the utility that provides natural gas and electricity to most of the northern two-thirds of California, from Bakersfield almost to the Oregon border...
, which is then resold at a profit.
He also fought to establish the Kings Canyon National Park
Kings Canyon National Park
Kings Canyon National Park is a National Park in the southern Sierra Nevada, east of Fresno, California. The park was established in 1940 and covers...
, using Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
' photos to persuade Congress to send the bill to President Roosevelt in 1940.
After the Hindenburg disaster
Hindenburg disaster
The Hindenburg disaster took place on Thursday, May 6, 1937, as the German passenger airship LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed during its attempt to dock with its mooring mast at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, which is located adjacent to the borough of Lakehurst, New Jersey...
, Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
sought to obtain helium
Helium
Helium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table...
to replace the flammable hydrogen
Hydrogen
Hydrogen is the chemical element with atomic number 1. It is represented by the symbol H. With an average atomic weight of , hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant chemical element, constituting roughly 75% of the Universe's chemical elemental mass. Stars in the main sequence are mainly...
in their fleet of dirigibles. Ickes opposed the sale, although practically every other member of the Cabinet supported it, along with the President himself. Ickes would not back down, fearing military use of the dirigible. Germany could not obtain the helium from other sources. Hence, Ickes virtually shut down the German dirigible program himself.
The Saudi Aramco
Saudi Aramco
Saudi Aramco , officially the Saudi Arabian Oil Company, is the national oil company of Saudi Arabia.Saudi Aramco is the world's largest and most valuable privately-held company, with estimates of its value in 2011 to be $7 trillion USD.Saudi Aramco has both the largest proven crude oil reserves,...
oil corporation, through Secretary of the Interior Ickes, got Roosevelt to agree to Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease
Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...
aid to Saudi Arabia, which would involve the US government in protecting American interests there and create a shield for ARAMCO.
Between June and October 1941, during a projected oil shortage, Ickes was successful in issuing orders to close gasoline stations in the Eastern United States between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Ickes was a terrific orator and the only man in the Roosevelt administration who could rebut John L. Lewis
John L. Lewis
John Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960...
of the United Mine Workers, who often delivered radio addresses critical of the Roosevelt Administration.
In the 1930s Ickes ordered the desegregation of national parks, including those in the South.
Jewish refugees in Alaska
In a news conferenceNews conference
A news conference or press conference is a media event in which newsmakers invite journalists to hear them speak and, most often, ask questions. A joint press conference instead is held between two or more talking sides.-Practice:...
on the eve of Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
1938, Ickes proposed offering Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
as a "haven for Jewish refugees
Jewish refugees
In the course of history, Jewish populations have been expelled or ostracised by various local authorities and have sought asylum from antisemitism numerous times...
from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and other areas in Europe where the Jews are subjected to oppressive restrictions." This proposal was designed to bypass normal immigration quota
Immigration Act of 1924
The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, and Asian Exclusion Act , was a United States federal law that limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already...
s, because Alaska was not a state. Ickes had toured Alaska that summer, meeting with local officials to discuss how to attract greater development, both for economic reasons and to bolster security in an area so close to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and to develop a plan to attract international professionals, including European Jews. In his press conference, he pointed out that 200 families had been relocated from the Dust Bowl
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
to Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Valley
Matanuska-Susitna Valley
Matanuska-Susitna Valley is an area in Southcentral Alaska south of the Alaska Range about 35 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska....
. The Department of the Interior prepared a report detailing the advantages of the plan, which was introduced as a bill by Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
's Senator William H. King
William H. King
William Henry King was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist from Salt Lake City, Utah. A Democrat, he represented Utah in the United States Senate from 1917 until 1941.-Life:...
and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's Democratic Representative Franck R. Havenner
Franck R. Havenner
Franck Roberts Havenner was a six term United States Representative from California's 4th congressional district beginning in 1936. He is a graduate from Columbian College...
. The plan met with little support from American Jews, however, with the exception of the Labor Zionists of America
Ameinu
Ameinu is an American Jewish Zionist organization. Established in 2004 as the successor to the Labor Zionist Alliance, it is the continuation of Labor Zionist activity in the United States that began with the founding of Poale Zion in 1905....
; most Jews agreed with Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
Stephen Samuel Wise
Stephen Samuel Wise
Stephen Samuel Wise was an Austro-Hungarian-born American Reform rabbi and Zionist leader.-Early life:...
of the American Jewish Congress
American Jewish Congress
The American Jewish Congress describes itself as an association of Jewish Americans organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts....
that the plan, if implemented, would deliver "a wrong and hurtful impression ... that Jews are taking over some part of the country for settlement". The final blow was dealt when Roosevelt suggested a limit of only 10,000 immigrants a year for five years, with a maximum of 10 percent Jews. He later reduced even that number and never publicly mentioned the plan.
During World War II Ickes told the Congress of American-Soviet Friendship in November 1943, "In certain respects we could do well to learn from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
; yes, even to imitate Russia."
Although he stayed on in President Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
's cabinet after Roosevelt died in April 1945, he resigned from office within a year. In February 1946, Truman nominated Edwin W. Pauley
Edwin W. Pauley
Edwin Wendell Pauley, Sr. was an American businessman and political leader.-Early life:Born in Indianapolis, Indiana to Elbert L...
to be Secretary of the Navy. Pauley was the former Democratic Party national treasurer. He once suggested to Ickes that $300,000 in campaign funds could be raised if Ickes would drop his fight for title to oil-rich offshore lands. Ickes testified to this during Pauley's Senate confirmation hearing. This led to a confrontation with Truman who had suggested that Ickes's memory might have been mistaken. Ickes wrote a 2,000-word resignation letter, reading in part: "I don't care to stay in an Administration where I am expected to commit perjury
Perjury
Perjury, also known as forswearing, is the willful act of swearing a false oath or affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to a judicial proceeding. That is, the witness falsely promises to tell the truth about matters which affect the outcome of the...
for the sake of the party.... I do not have a reputation for dealing recklessly with the truth." Truman accepted the resignation and gave Ickes three days to leave. Soon after, Pauley declined the nomination.
After government
Ickes had bought a working farm, Headwaters Farm, near Olney, MarylandOlney, Maryland
Olney, a census-designated place and an unincorporated area of Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, is located in the north central part of the county, twenty miles north of Washington, D.C. It was largely agricultural until the 1960s, when growth of the Washington suburbs led to its conversion into...
, in 1937. His wife Jane managed the farm and Ickes grew flowers as a hobby. President Roosevelt spent occasional weekends there before the establishment of "Shangri-La", the presidential retreat now known as Camp David
Camp David
Camp David is the country retreat of the President of the United States and his guests. It is located in low wooded hills about 60 mi north-northwest of Washington, D.C., on the property of Catoctin Mountain Park in unincorporated Frederick County, Maryland, near Thurmont, at an elevation of...
. After he resigned from the Cabinet in 1946, Ickes retired to his farm but remained active on the political scene, working as a syndicated columnist.
In December 1945, Ickes accepted the position of executive chairman of the newly founded Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences, and Professions, a group that criticized Truman's lack of fidelity to FDR's principles. A thousand people attended the Hotel banquet that celebrated his appointment. He resigned in November 1946, unhappy with the organization's failure to pay him the agreed-upon salary and unwilling to support the organization of a new political party to support Henry Wallace
Henry Wallace
Henry or Harry Wallace may refer to:*Henry A. Wallace , U.S. Vice President 1941-1945, presidential candidate for the Progressive Party 1948**Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center...
's presidential race.
Critiques and battles
Ickes was known for his acerbic wit and took joy in verbal battles. He often took verbal abuse too. For instance, Roosevelt selected Ickes to deliver a response following the nomination of Wendell WillkieWendell Willkie
Wendell Lewis Willkie was a corporate lawyer in the United States and a dark horse who became the Republican Party nominee for the president in 1940. A member of the liberal wing of the GOP, he crusaded against those domestic policies of the New Deal that he thought were inefficient and...
. In response to Ickes' comments, Senator Styles Bridges
Styles Bridges
Henry Styles Bridges was an American teacher, editor, and Republican Party politician from Concord, New Hampshire. He served one term as 63rd Governor of New Hampshire before a twenty-four year career in the United States Senate.Bridges was born in West Pembroke, Maine. He attended the public...
called Ickes "a common scold
Common scold
In the common law of crime in England and Wales, a common scold was a species of public nuisance—a troublesome and angry woman who broke the public peace by habitually arguing and quarreling with her neighbours...
puffed up by high office." Republican Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce
Clare Boothe Luce
Clare Boothe Luce was an American playwright, editor, journalist, ambassador, socialite and U.S. Congresswoman, representing the state of Connecticut.-Early life:...
once famously remarked that Ickes had "the mind of a commissar and the soul of a meataxe."
In September 1944, Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican nominee for president, promised to fire Ickes if elected. Ickes penned a letter of resignation to Dewey and it was widely printed in the press. Ickes wrote, in part:
Family
He married divorcee Anna Wilmarth Thompson in 1911. She died in an automobile accident on August 31, 1935. He married Jane Dahlman (1913–1972), who was 25 at the time, on May 24, 1938, when he was 64. He had one son, Raymond, with Anna and a stepson, Wilmarth, from her first marriage. Ickes had two children with his second wife, Harold McEwen IckesHarold M. Ickes
Harold McEwen Ickes was White House Deputy Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton. He is the son of Harold L. Ickes, who was Secretary of the Interior under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ickes is a graduate of Stanford University and Columbia Law School. Ickes was a student civil rights activist in...
and Elizabeth Jane. He also adopted two children while married to Anna; Robert and Frances.
His sister was Mary Ickes, who was married to John B. Watson
John B. Watson
John Broadus Watson was an American psychologist who established the psychological school of behaviorism. Watson promoted a change in psychology through his address Psychology as the Behaviorist Views it which was given at Columbia University in 1913...
, a famous American psychologist who lost his post at Johns Hopkins University due to a scandal involving his affair with a graduate student named Rosalie Rayner and subsequent divorce from Mary Ickes.
Pronunciation and spelling of name
Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary DigestLiterary Digest
The Literary Digest was an influential general interest weekly magazine published by Funk & Wagnalls. Founded by Isaac Kaufmann Funk in 1890, it eventually merged with two similar weekly magazines, Public Opinion and Current Opinion.-History:...
"I think you come as close as anybody when you suggest that it rhymes with sickness with the n omitted. The e is halfway between a short e and short u": hence, ˈɪkəs . His son Harold M. Ickes
Harold M. Ickes
Harold McEwen Ickes was White House Deputy Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton. He is the son of Harold L. Ickes, who was Secretary of the Interior under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ickes is a graduate of Stanford University and Columbia Law School. Ickes was a student civil rights activist in...
, however, pronounces the name ˈɪkiːz .
The correct spelling of Ickes' middle name is undetermined. It is sometimes spelled Le Clair, Le Claire or LeClare.
In fiction
- In the musical playMusical theatreMusical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
AnnieAnnie (musical)Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
, Roosevelt demands that Ickes sing "Tomorrow" in the Oval Office, and orders him to get louder. Ickes was largely a comic figure in the play, despite acting rude, vulgar, and arrogant. Annie helps him to sing, and he gets somewhat carried away. He ends the song on his knees, much to the dismay of the Cabinet and the President.
- Harold Ickes plays a key part in the backstory of Michael ChabonMichael ChabonMichael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
's alternative history The Yiddish Policemen's UnionThe Yiddish Policemen's UnionThe Yiddish Policemen's Union is a 2007 novel by American author Michael Chabon. The novel is a detective story set in an alternative history version of the present day, based on the premise that during World War II, a temporary settlement for Jewish refugees was established in Sitka, Alaska, in...
.
By Ickes
- New Democracy (1934). W. W. Norton
- Back to Work: The Story of PWA (1935).
- with Arno B. Cammerer (coauthor), Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming) (1937). U.S. Government Printing Office
- The Third Term Bugaboo. A Cheerful Anthology (1940)
- (editor). Freedom of the Press Today: A Clinical Examination By 28 Specialists (1941). Vanguard Press
- Minerals Yearbook 1941 (1943). U.S. Government Printing Office
- Fightin' Oil (1943). Alfred A. Knopf
- The Autobiography of a Curmudgeon (1943). Greenwood Press 1985 reprint: ISBN 0313249881
- The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes. Simon and Schuster
- Volume I: The First Thousand Days 1933–1936 (1953)
- Volume II: The Inside Struggle 1936–1939 (1954)
- Volume III: The Lowering Clouds 1939–1941 (1954)
About Ickes
- Jeanne Nienaber Clarke. Roosevelt's Warrior: Harold L. Ickes and the New Deal (1996). The Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN 0801850940
- Linda J. Lear. Harold L. Ickes: The Aggressive Progressive, 1874-1933 (1982). Taylor & Francis, ISBN 0824048601
- T. H. Watkins. Righteous Pilgrim: The Life and Times of Harold L. Ickes, 1874-1952 (1990). Henry Holt & Co., ISBN 0805009175; 1992 reprint: ISBN 0805021124
- Graham White and John Maze. Harold Ickes of the New Deal: His Private Life and Public Career (1985). Harvard University Press, ISBN 0674372859