Senator gaylord nelson biography sample

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Nature was also important to the young Nelson.

Nelson took his environmental activism to the national level when he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1962. 1, p.

The outdoors provided entertainment for him since his family did not even own a radio until he was in high school. In the speech he gave that year to mark the 25th anniversary of Earth Day, he kept his gaze on the horizon:

“The opportunity for a gradual but complete break with our destructive environmental history and a new beginning is at hand….

Gaylord Nelson earned environmentalism a lasting place in national politics.

From the Land, for the People

Born in the North Woods of Wisconsin in 1916, Nelson grew up admiring both the beauty of the Wisconsin land and the progressive politics of the state’s famous Senator “Fighting Bob” La Follette.

During his four years in office, Nelson decided that environmental issues were quite important but often ignored by politicians. For example, with his Outdoor Recreation Act Program, a one-cent tax on cigarette packages raised millions of dollars which was used to buy a million acres of land to preserve. Nelson saw these battles as part and parcel of his environmental agenda, believing:

“Environment is all of America and its problems.

Both of Nelson's parents were also active politically, as supporters of the Progressive Republicans. He never overlooked the social and ecological costs of technological innovation and industrial expansion.

As a senator, Nelson contributed to important liberal reforms but struggled for years to interest his colleagues in environmental protections.

His mother worked as a registered nurse. President Richard M. Nixon even created a new federal department, the Environmental Protection Agency, several months after the first Earth Day.

In 1972, Nelson was asked to be Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern's running mate, but Nelson declined because did not want to be limited in what he could say.

When he completed his degree, World War II was still being fought. Nearly 20 million Americans participated in public events, both educational and practical, through schools, colleges, and communities. This simple but compelling idea truly made the world a better place."

As the power and public support of Earth Day was realized, Congress passed a significant number of environmental laws over the next decade, with Nelson often playing a role in their creation.

B11; New York Times , July 4, 2005, p. He worked to have the pollution produced by cars regulated and was involved with the protection of the oceans. Nelson remained a dynamic environmental activist, still concerned with, among other things, population control.