Editing Mo Udall (section)

===Congressman===

[[File:JFK–MKUdall 1961.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Udall with [[John F. Kennedy]] at the [[White House]], May 18, 1961]]

In 1961, his brother was appointed as [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]] in the John F. [[Kennedy administration]]. Mo then won a special election for his brother's vacant seat by 2,000 votes, with 51% of the vote.  He won the seat in his own right in 1962, and was reelected 13 more times.  He faced only one other close race, in 1978, when he received 52 percent of the vote. He held the post until his resignation May 4, 1991.<ref name="biographical_info_arizona_edu" /><ref name="this_fella_from_arizona_1981_11_audubon" /><ref name="obit_1998_12_14_washington_post" /><ref name="will_rogers_1974_12_new_york_magazine" />

For his first term, Udall represented the entire state outside of [[Maricopa County]].  After the 1960s round of redistricting, his district was reduced to the southern portion of the state, centered on [[Tucson]].  After a mid-decade redistricting ordered as a result of ''[[Wesberry v. Sanders]],'' his district absorbed some outer portions of the Phoenix area.

From 1977 until his retirement in 1991, Udall chaired the [[United States House Committee on Natural Resources|House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs]] (on which he'd served since 1963). He also served as [[ranking member]] of the [[United States House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service|Committee of the Post Office and Civil Service]], chairman of the [[Office of Technology Assessment]] and was a member of the [[United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs|Committee on Foreign Affairs]]<ref name="biographical_info_arizona_edu" /><ref name="obit_1998_12_14_washington_post" />

====Vietnam War====
Udall first gained national political notice for a speech October 23, 1967, in [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]] at a major regional civic meeting, with an audience of 2,800—largely civic leaders, mostly supportive of [[Lyndon Johnson|President Johnson's]] policy on the [[Vietnam War]]. Despite their leanings, Udall gave a firm and direct speech calling the nation's involvement in Vietnam "a mistaken and dangerous road." He [[Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War|called for reversing American escalation of the war]], and eventual U.S. withdrawal—the first major figure in the [[U.S. Democratic Party]] to openly oppose the Democratic president on the war.  The speech drew a standing ovation, and reverberated nationwide, drawing national media and political attention, and initiating the Democratic Party's gradual split over the war.<ref name="this_fella_from_arizona_1981_11_audubon" /><ref name="obit_1998_12_14_new_york_times" />

====Labor legislation====
On labor legislation, however, Udall was less liberal. Though he opposed [[right-to-work laws]] that undermined labor unions, his constituents very strongly supported them, so Udall did, too—particularly in a 1965 congressional vote that labor leaders held against him for years.<ref name="this_fella_from_arizona_1981_11_audubon" />

====Conservation and the environment====
On conservation and [[environmental protection]], Udall's record was mixed—and extreme in both directions—though he is largely credited with being generally a defender of those causes (he first joined the House Interior committee in 1961), particularly as chairman of the [[House Committee on Natural Resources|House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs]]. He fought for [[environmental protection]], and expansion of the [[National Park System]], ushered legislation through Congress absorbing 8 million acres into the federal wilderness system across 20 states, and attempted to restructure the energy industry.<ref name="biographical_info_arizona_edu" /><ref name="this_fella_from_arizona_1981_11_audubon" /><ref name="obit_1998_12_14_new_york_times" /><ref name="obit_1998_12_14_washington_post" /><ref name="will_rogers_1974_12_new_york_magazine" />

An important exception was his defense of planned dam-and-reservoir projects in Arizona that threatened to inundate key wilderness areas, including a hydroelectric dam that threatened to flood some of the [[Grand Canyon]].  Hostile campaigning by the nation's leading conservation organization, the [[Sierra Club]], led to Udall's bitter fight with them, and the eventual loss of their [[tax-exempt]] status, which some have blamed on Udall's complaints about them to the [[Internal Revenue Service]].  The projects were eventually abandoned, replaced with [[coal-fired powerplant]]s that Udall thought more polluting than the dams would have been.<ref name="this_fella_from_arizona_1981_11_audubon" />

However, in the opposite extreme, Udall's "proudest achievement" was passage of an Alaska lands bill, permanently preserving 104.3 million acres of extraordinary scenic wilderness, over the furious opposition of many in Alaska and in the natural resource industries.<ref name="this_fella_from_arizona_1981_11_audubon" />

In 1973, Udall was named "Legislator of the Year" by the [[National Wildlife Federation]].<ref name="will_rogers_1974_12_new_york_magazine" />

However, in 1974, his Land Use Bill was defeated—some environmentalists blaming Udall's inability to work the bill effectively on the floor of the House.<ref name="will_rogers_1974_12_new_york_magazine" />

From the beginning of his work on the Interior committee in 1961, Udall had been interested in limiting the controversial practice of [[strip mining]], blamed for massive destruction of wilderness and extensive environmental damage, particularly across the [[American West]].  However, it took several years of wrangling with industry, Congress and administrations (Republican President [[Gerald R. Ford]] vetoed the legislation twice), before he was able to pass a limited bill, into law (signed by Democratic President [[Jimmy Carter]]), which constrained the strip-mining of coal, and forced the reclamation of millions of acres of strip-mined areas.<ref name="this_fella_from_arizona_1981_11_audubon" /><ref name="will_rogers_1974_12_new_york_magazine" /><ref name="obit_1998_12_14_new_york_times" />

Udall helped write and pass the [[Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act|Alaska Lands Act of 1980]], and landmark 1982 legislation addressing nuclear waste management.<ref name="obit_1998_12_14_washington_post" />

Udall voted for the [[Abandoned Shipwrecks Act|Abandoned Shipwrecks Act of 1987]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=TO SUSPEND THE RULES AND PASS S 858, ABANDONED SHIPWRECK … -- House Vote #532 -- March 29, 1988 |url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/100-1988/h532 |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=GovTrack.us |language=en}}</ref> The Act asserts United States title to certain abandoned shipwrecks located on or embedded in submerged lands under state jurisdiction, and transfers title to the respective state, thereby empowering states to manage these cultural and historical resources more efficiently, with the goal of preventing [[Treasure hunting|treasure hunters]] and salvagers from damaging them. President [[Ronald Reagan]] signed it into law on April 28, 1988.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Laws - Division of Historical Resources - Florida Department of State |url=https://dos.fl.gov/historical/archaeology/underwater/laws/#:~:text=On%2028%20April%201988,%20President,authority%20over%20those%20abandoned%20shipwrecks. |access-date=2025-04-07 |website=dos.fl.gov}}</ref> 

====Government legislative reform====
Udall challenged the arcane and Byzantine rules and protocols of the House of Representatives, demanding a reduction in the ability of powerful leaders to covertly control legislation and dominate committees. Udall's efforts eventually led to substantial reform of congressional rules and operations.<ref name="this_fella_from_arizona_1981_11_audubon" /><ref name="obit_1998_12_14_new_york_times" /><ref name="will_rogers_1974_12_new_york_magazine" />

Udall gained early national political notoriety for being the first congressman in the 20th century to challenge a sitting [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|Speaker of the House]] for his seat. He challenged Rep. [[John William McCormack|John McCormack]], in 1968.  Though defeated, Udall tried again two years later, against [[House Majority Leader]], [[Hale Boggs]]; he lost again but shook the foundations of the House seniority system. This was eventually reformed, largely as a result of the revolt begun by Udall.<ref name="this_fella_from_arizona_1981_11_audubon" /><ref name="obit_1998_12_14_new_york_times" /><ref name="will_rogers_1974_12_new_york_magazine" />

Like any freshman congressman, Udall struggled to adapt to the office during his first term; but in his second term, he responded to the experience by organizing a school for other incoming freshmen congressman, to teach them the complex and subtle ways of the House of Representatives, and how to navigate the Washington bureaucracy. To aid this effort, Udall wrote a 1966 guidebook, ''The Job of a Congressman.''<ref name="this_fella_from_arizona_1981_11_audubon" /><ref name="obit_1998_12_14_washington_post" />

====Government campaign reform====
Udall co-sponsored the [[Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971]] and was a key factor in its success. The first major campaign-finance reform legislation since 1925, it required candidates to file campaign finance reports. (President [[Richard Nixon]] ran afoul of these requirements in actions related to the [[Watergate scandal]]). Udall also co-sponsored the [[1974 Campaign Reform Act]], which was signed by President Ford. He fought for financial disclosure legislation, and disclosed his own finances and tax returns.<ref name="will_rogers_1974_12_new_york_magazine" /><ref name="obit_1998_12_14_new_york_times" />

====Government administrative reform====
Reforming civil service and the [[U.S. Post Office]] were a major focus of Udall's efforts in Congress.  On the [[United States House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service|Committee of the Post Office and Civil Service]] since 1961, he eventually became the [[ranking member]]. He attempted to revise pay scales for federal employees and establish merit pay.<ref name="biographical_info_arizona_edu" /><ref name="obit_1998_12_14_washington_post" />

Ultimately, Udall was one of the principal leaders effecting the first substantial reform of the U.S. civil service system since the 1883 creation of that merit-based government-employment system. The bill created performance incentives for workers in the bureaucracy, and made firing federal workers easier. Although the bill was a favorite project of President Carter, whom Udall disliked, the congressman pushed the bill through Congress, against numerous roadblocks thrown up by federal employees (and by congressmen representing districts that employed many of them). Udall compromised until getting a consensus bill before the whole House, fighting through additional opposition to success.<ref name="this_fella_from_arizona_1981_11_audubon" />

Udall sought to change the [[Post Office Department]] from a purely governmental agency into a semiprivate organization (today, it is: the [[U.S. Postal Service]]). He was a key force in passage of the [[Postal Reorganization Act]] of 1970.<ref name="biographical_info_arizona_edu" /><ref name="this_fella_from_arizona_1981_11_audubon" /><ref name="obit_1998_12_14_washington_post" />

====Other issues====
Because of having lost his eye as a child due to inadequate family finances, he strongly believed that people should have access to competent medical care regardless of their financial condition.<ref name="obit_1998_12_14_new_york_times" />

In 1963, Udall attempted to get cigarettes (and other tobacco) regulated by the [[Food and Drug Administration]] (FDA).<ref name="will_rogers_1974_12_new_york_magazine" /> It took years before the scale of tobacco damage due to smoking was known.

On the [[House Foreign Affairs Committee]], Udall opposed Reagan administration policies toward Central America.<ref name="obit_1998_12_14_washington_post" />