RIP former NPS Director George Hartzog

From a National Park Service press release:

George B. Hartzog, Jr., March 17, 1920 – June 27, 2008, served as the seventh director of the National Park Service (NPS). During his nine-year tenure, 1964 to 1973, Hartzog led the largest expansion of the National Park System in its history. During those nine years, seventy-two sites were added to the National Park System, sites that included national parks, historical and archeological monuments, recreation areas, seashores, riverways, memorials, and cultural units celebrating minority experiences. Hartzog was a visionary and his efforts went a long way in enlarging the agency’s role in urban recreation, historic preservation, interpretation, and environmental education.

“George Hartzog was one of the great champions of the National Park Service,” said NPS Director Mary A. Bomar. “His vision of what the national parks should be and should mean to the American people left an indelible mark on the agency he so loved and believed in. His goal of making the National Park Service relevant to people who previously had been overlooked, especially minorities and women, has strengthened our agency.”

Hartzog joined the NPS in 1946, when he entered the service as an Attorney. Field assignments as Assistant Superintendent at Great Smoky Mountains and Rocky Mountains national parks came along soon after. While serving in St. Louis, he brought to completion one of America’s most recognizable landmarks, the Gateway Arch.
Former Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall noted "Hartzog was able to leave behind a legacy that to this day is unsurpassed in the amount of land acquired, and the amount of legislation passed to protect public lands.” He described Hartzog as a reminder "of the glories of public service and the legacies our best bureaucrats leave to future generations."

There are many achievements as NPS Director that Hartzog was proud of, but it was his resolve that the NPS should reflect the Nation’s increased awareness for minorities that might stand the highest in many people’s eyes. Hartzog made it a high priority to advance programs that would include minorities. During his tenure he named the first African American park superintendent, the first female superintendent from the career ranks, the first Native American superintendent, and the first African American chief of a major U.S. police department. – the United States Park Police.

Preserving Alaska and expanding the National Park System was also a priority, and in 1971 Hartzog worked closely with subcommittee chairman Senator Alan Bible to develop legislation for the expansion of the National Park System in Alaska. The Bible Amendment of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 was finally enacted in 1980 and more than doubled the acreage of the National Park System.

In addition, Hartzog was a strong supporter of The Wilderness Act; The Land and Water Conservation Fund Act; the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act; and the National Trails System Act, all of which passed while he was Director. He also advocated for creation of Gateway National Recreation Area around New York Harbor and Golden Gate National Recreation Area at San Francisco Bay as the Nation’s first urban national parklands outside of the Nation’s capital.

According to former NPS Historian Robert M. Utley, “George Hartzog made great things happen.” “The National Historic Preservation Act would not have passed, at least in 1966, but for George Hartzog. Many people worked hard on this initiative, but without Hartzog’s largely hidden political labors on Capitol Hill, with congressional staff as well as members, the law would not have been enacted.”