American Experience

Historian John Milton Cooper on Conservation

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JOHN COOPER: Conservation is the one real cause for Theodore Roosevelt when he first becomes President. It is the only thing in domestic affairs where he gets out in front of the public and even of reformers.

And for him, it really is a moral issue because he believes that we humans are stewards of the environment and what we have to do is take the longer view, not use up the resources, because if we use them up now, they will not be here for our children. And we have to pass this estate on. We have to take a longer, longer view.

Plus his anti-materialism comes into this, too. This is somebody who, ah, believes that there is something. It's not necessarily mystical or religious exactly, but there is a reverence for Nature. There really is that strain in him.

So that this is -- it's interesting. This is where he goes out front. He's not following. He's not playing it cautiously. With his party and his party bosses, he's really willing to push this one and agitate the issue. And it's the only one in his first term that he's willing to do that with.

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