Gifford Pinchot

Pinchot landed his first professional forestry position in early 1892, when he became the manager of the forests at George Washington Vanderbilt II's Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.[18] That same year, Pinchot met John Muir, a naturalist who founded the Sierra Club and would become Pinchot's mentor and, later, his rival.[19] Pinchot worked at Biltmore until 1895, when he opened a consulting office in New York City.[20] In 1896, he embarked on a tour of the American West with the National Forest Commission.[21] Pinchot disagreed with the commission's final report, which advocated preventing U.S. forest reserves from being used for any commercial purpose; Pinchot instead favored the development of a professional forestry service which would preside over limited commercial activities in forest reserves.[22] In 1897, Pinchot became a special forest agent for the United States Department of the Interior.[23]

In 1898, Pinchot became the head of the Division of Forestry, which was part of the United States Department of Agriculture.[24] Pinchot is known for reforming the management and development of forests in the United States and for advocating the conservation of the nation's reserves by planned use and renewal.[25] His approach set him apart from some other leading forestry experts, especially Bernhard E. Fernow and Carl A. Schenck. In contrast to Pinchot's national vision, Fernow advocated a regional approach, while Schenck favored private enterprise effort.[26] Pinchot's main contribution was his leadership in promoting scientific forestry and emphasizing the controlled, profitable use of forests and other natural resources so they would be of maximum benefit to mankind. He coined the term conservation ethic as applied to natural resources.[25] Under his leadership, the number of individuals employed by the Division of Forestry grew from 60 in 1898 to 500 in 1905; he also hired numerous part-time employees who worked only during the summer.[27] The Division of Forestry did not have direct control over the national forest reserves, which were instead assigned to the U.S. Department of Interior, but Pinchot reached an arrangement with the Department of Interior and state agencies to work on reserves.[28]

In 1900, Pinchot established the Society of American Foresters, an organization that helped bring credibility to the new profession of forestry, and was part of the broader professionalization movement underway in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. Pursuant to the goal of professionalization, the Pinchot family endowed a 2-year graduate-level School of Forestry at Yale University, which now known as the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. It became the third school in the U.S. that trained professional foresters, after the New York State College of Forestry at Cornell and the Biltmore Forest School.[29] Central to his publicity work was his creation of news for magazines and newspapers, as well as debates with opponents such as John Muir.[30]

Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot on the steamer Mississippi, 1907

Pinchot's friend, Theodore Roosevelt, became president in 1901, and Pinchot became part of the latter's informal "Tennis Cabinet". Pinchot and Roosevelt shared the view that the federal government must act to regulate public lands and provide for the scientific management of public resources.[31] In 1905, Roosevelt and Pinchot convinced Congress to establish the United States Forest Service, an agency charged with overseeing the country's forest reserves.[32] As the first head of the Forest Service, Pinchot implemented a decentralized structure that empowered local civil servants to make decisions about conservation and forestry.[33]

Pinchot's conservation philosophy was influenced by ethnologist William John McGee and utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham,[34] as well as the ethos of the Progressive Era. Like many other Progressive Era reformers, Pinchot emphasized that his field was important primarily for its social utility and could be best understood through scientific methods.[35] He was generally opposed to preservation for the sake of wilderness or scenery, a fact perhaps best illustrated by the important support he offered to the damming of Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park.[36] Pinchot used the rhetoric of the market economy to disarm critics of efforts to expand the role of government: scientific management of forests and natural resources was profitable. While most of his battles were with timber companies that he thought had too narrow a time horizon, he also battled the forest preservationists like John Muir, who were deeply opposed to commercializing nature.[37] Pinchot's policies also aroused opposition from ranchers, who opposed regulation of livestock grazing in public lands.[38][lower-alpha 2]

The Roosevelt administration's efforts to regulate public land led to blowback in Congress, which moved to combat "Pinchotism" and reassert control over the Forest Service.[40] In 1907, Congress passed an act prohibiting the president from creating more forest reserves. With Pinchot's help, President Roosevelt responded by creating 16 million acres (65,000 km²) of new National Forests (which became known as "midnight forests") just minutes before he lost the legal power to do so.[41] Despite congressional opposition, Roosevelt, Pinchot, and Secretary of the Interior James R. Garfield continued to find ways to protect public land from private development during Roosevelt's last two years in office.[42]

Pinchot continued to lead the Forest Service after Republican William Howard Taft succeeded Roosevelt in 1909, but did not retain the level of influence he had held under Roosevelt.[43] After taking office, Taft replaced Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield with Richard Ballinger.[44] When Ballinger approved of long-disputed mining claims to coal deposits in Alaska in 1909, Land Office agent Louis Glavis broke governmental protocol by going outside the Interior Department to seek help from Pinchot.[45] Concerned about the possibility of fraud in the claim, and skeptical of Ballinger's commitment to conservation, Pinchot intervened in the dispute on behalf of Glavis. In the midst of a budding controversy, Taft came down in favor of Ballinger, who was authorized to dismiss Glavis.[46] Though Taft hoped to avoid further controversy, Pinchot became determined to dramatize the issue by forcing his own dismissal.[47] After Pinchot publicly criticized Ballinger for several months, Taft dismissed Pinchot in January 1910.[48] Pinchot maneuvered behind the scenes to ensure the appointment of his ally, Henry S. Graves, as the new head of the Forest Service.[49]

Pinchot visiting summer campers attending the School of Forestry camp at Grey Towers (Pinchot is with the dog), 1910

At Roosevelt's request, Pinchot met Roosevelt in Europe in 1910, where they discussed Pinchot's dismissal by Taft.[50] Roosevelt subsequently expressed disappointment with Taft's policies and began to publicly distance himself from Taft.[51] Along with Amos Pinchot and several other individuals, Pinchot helped establish the Progressive Party, which nominated Roosevelt for president in the 1912 United States presidential election. The Pinchots represented the more ideologically left wing faction of the party, and they frequently feuded with financier George Walbridge Perkins.[52] Though Pinchot campaigned extensively for Roosevelt, Roosevelt and Taft were both defeated by Democrat Woodrow Wilson.[53]

Pinchot continued to affiliate with the Progressives after the 1912 election, working to build the party in Pennsylvania.[54] He ran as the Progressive nominee in the 1914 U.S. Senate election, but was defeated by incumbent Republican Senator Boies Penrose.[55] The Progressive Party collapsed after Roosevelt refused to run in the 1916 presidential election, and Pinchot subsequently re-joined the Republican Party.[56] He supported Republican Warren G. Harding's successful campaign in the 1920 presidential election, but, despite some speculation that he would be appointed as Secretary of Agriculture, did not receive a position in Harding's administration.[57]

After leaving office in 1910, Pinchot took up leadership of the National Conservation Association (NCA), a conservationist non-governmental organization that he had helped found the previous year. The organization, which ceased operations in 1923, never attracted as many members as Pinchot had initially hoped, but its efforts affected conservation-related legislation.[58] Later in the 1920s, Pinchot worked with Senator George W. Norris to build a federal dam on the Tennessee River.[59]

Pinchot had appointed William Greeley during his tenure at the Forest Service, and Greeley became Chief of the Forest Service in 1920.[25] Under Greeley, the forest service became a figurative fire engine company, protecting trees so the timber industry could cut them down later at government expense.[60] Pinchot had always preached of a "working forest" in which working people would engage in small-scale logging, while the forests would be preserved, and he was appalled by the large-scale logging undertaken by large syndicates.[61] Pinchot had a more favorable view of Greeley's successor, Robert Y. Stuart, and his influence played a key role in blocking several plans to transfer of the Forest Service out of the Department of Agriculture.[62]

Governor William Cameron Sproul appointed Pinchot as chairman of the Pennsylvania Forest Commission in 1920. As chairman, Pinchot coaxed a major budget increase from the legislature, decentralized the commission's administration, and replaced numerous political appointees with professional foresters. He narrowly won the three-candidate Republican primary in Pennsylvania's 1922 gubernatorial election, and went on to defeat Democrat John A. McSparran in the general election.[63] Pinchot's victory over his Republican opponents owed much to his reputation as a staunch teetotaler during the early period of Prohibition; he was also boosted by his popularity with farmers, laborers, and women.[64] Pinchot focused on balancing the state budget; he inherited a $32 million deficit and left office with a $6.7 million surplus.[65] Pinchot and engineer Morris Llewellyn Cooke pursued ambitious plans to regulate Pennsylvania's electric power industry, but their proposals were defeated in the state legislature.[66]

Pinchot emerged as a potential contender for the Republican nomination in the 1924 presidential election following the death of President Harding, as many progressive Republicans hoped Pinchot could unseat Harding's successor, Calvin Coolidge. Pinchot's presidential chances were badly damaged by his role in settling the 1923 United Mine Workers coal strike, as he received the blame for a subsequent increase in coal prices, and Coolidge ultimately won the 1924 presidential election.[67] Constitutionally barred from seeking a second term, Pinchot ran in the 1926 Senate election in Pennsylvania. Facing strong opposition from anti-Prohibition "wets" and the conservative wing of the Republican Party, Pinchot was defeated by Congressman William Scott Vare in the Republican primary. Vare went on to defeat former Labor Secretary William Wilson in the general election, but in his capacity as governor Pinchot refused to certify the results of the election, claiming that Vare had illegally bought votes.[68] The Senate refused to seat Vare and the seat would not be filled until the appointment of Joseph R. Grundy in 1929.

With the backing of Senator Grundy, Pinchot launched a bid for the Republican nomination in the 1930 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election. Relying once again on support from women and rural voters, Pinchot defeated Francis Shunk Brown, the candidate of Vare's Philadelphia machine, and Thomas Phillips, a former congressman who was enthusiastically supported by the state's wet forces. Despite some defections by some Republicans, Pinchot went on to narrowly defeat Democrat John Hemphill in the general election.[69] Taking office in the midst of the Great Depression, Pinchot would face high persistently high unemployment levels and sharply declining revenues during his second term.[70]

Pinchot prioritized fiscal conservatism and avoided major budget increases, but he also sought ways to help the impoverished and unemployed. He presided over the passage of a bill to provide state money for indigent care and initiated various infrastructure projects.[71] He cooperated with President Franklin Roosevelt, despite his being a Democrat and Prohibition opponent. Under Governor Pinchot's leadership, Pennsylvania welcomed the Civilian Conservation Corps, which established 113 camps to work on public lands in Pennsylvania (second only to California). Working with the Works Progress Administration and National Park Service, Pinchot helped expand Pennsylvania's state parks, and also helped Pennsylvania's struggling farmers and unemployed workers by paving rural roads, which became known as Pinchot Roads.

When Prohibition was nationally repealed in 1933, and four days before the sale of alcohol became legal in Pennsylvania again, Pinchot called the Pennsylvania General Assembly into special session to debate regulations regarding the manufacture and sale of alcohol. This session led to the establishment of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and its system of state-run liquor stores, reflecting Pinchot's desire to "discourage the purchase of alcoholic beverages by making it as inconvenient and expensive as possible."[72][73] Pinchot argued that under the new system of state controlled liquor stores "[w]hisky will be sold by civil service employees with exactly the same amount of salesmanship as is displayed by an automatic postage stamp vending machine."[74]

Grey Towers near Milford, Pennsylvania, a National Historic Site

Gifford Pinchot died on October 4, 1946, aged 81, from leukemia. He is interred at Milford Cemetery, Pike County, Pennsylvania.[81]