Nixon and the Environment

No one remembers Richard M. Nixon as an environmental president, but a year into his presidency, he committed his administration to regulate and protect the environment. The public outrage over the Santa Barbara oil spill in early 1969, culminating in the first Earth Day in 1970, convinced Nixon that American environmentalism now enjoyed extraordinary political currency.

No nature lover at heart, Nixon opportunistically tapped the burgeoning Environmental Movement and signed the Endangered S...