Bruce Babbitt | |
|---|---|
 Babbitt in 2019 | |
| 47thUnited States Secretary of the Interior | |
| In office January 22, 1993 – January 19, 2001 | |
| President | Bill Clinton |
| Preceded by | Manuel Lujan |
| Succeeded by | Gale Norton |
| 16thGovernor of Arizona | |
| In office March 4, 1978 – January 5, 1987 | |
| Preceded by | Wesley Bolin |
| Succeeded by | Evan Mecham |
| 19thAttorney General of Arizona | |
| In office January 6, 1975 – March 4, 1978 | |
| Governor | Raúl Castro Wesley Bolin |
| Preceded by | N. Warner Lee |
| Succeeded by | Jack LaSota |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Bruce Edward Babbitt (1938-06-27)June 27, 1938 (age 87) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | University of Notre Dame (BS) Newcastle University (MSc) Harvard University (JD) |
Bruce Edward Babbitt (born June 27, 1938) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 47thUnited States secretary of the interior from 1993 to 2001 under PresidentBill Clinton. He previously served as the16th governor of Arizona from 1978 to 1987 and was a candidate for President of the United States in the1988 Democratic primaries.
He won election asArizona attorney general after graduating fromHarvard Law School. He became Governor of Arizona after the death of his predecessor,Wesley Bolin. Babbitt won election to a full term in 1978 and won re-election in 1982. He focused on tax reform, health care, and water management. He helped found theDemocratic Leadership Council and sought the1988 Democratic presidential nomination, but dropped out of the race after the first set of primaries.
From 1988 to 1992, Babbitt served as head of theLeague of Conservation Voters. Clintonstrongly considered nominating Babbitt to theSupreme Court after vacancies arose in 1993 and 1994. After leaving public office in 2001, Babbitt became an attorney withLatham & Watkins.
Babbitt was born on June 27, 1938, in Los Angeles, California, into a prominent Roman Catholic family fromFlagstaff, Arizona, the son of Frances B. (Perry) and Paul James Babbitt Sr.[1][2] His family owned a department store in Flagstaff, a ranch in northern Arizona, and multiple Indian trading posts. He graduated from theUniversity of Notre Dame, attendedNewcastle University in the United Kingdom on aMarshall Scholarship, and then received hisJ.D. degree atHarvard Law School.[3]
He marriedHarriet Coons (known as Hattie) in 1968. She has worked as an attorney in Arizona and Washington, D.C., and served asUnited States Ambassador to the Organization of American States from 1993 to 1997, and as Deputy Administrator of theUnited States Agency for International Development from 1997 to 2001 during the Clinton Administration.[4]
As attorney for theScottsdale Daily Progress newspaper, Babbitt worked with publisherJonathan Marshall in crafting legislation that became Arizona's "open meeting law."
In the state election of November 1974, Babbitt overcame Republican incumbent N. Warner Lee to becomeAttorney General of Arizona.[5]
.png)
He succeededWesley Bolin as governor when Bolin died in office on March 4, 1978. Arizona does not have a lieutenant governor; theArizona Secretary of State, if holding office by election, stands first in line in case the governor vacates his or her post. However,Rose Mofford, then secretary of state, had been appointed to her post and thus was not eligible to become governor according to the Arizona state constitution. Babbitt, as attorney general, was next in the line of succession, and thus served the balance of the term to whichRaúl Héctor Castro had originally been elected in 1974. Babbitt was elected for a full four-year term later in 1978, and again in1982. He did not run for a third full term in 1986.[6]
In 1982, Babbitt intervened in negotiations between the Cochise County sheriff and leaders of the Christ Miracle Healing Church and Center over the release of church members whom the church was hiding from facing charges for assault. The church, which had been implicated in bomb-making, would play a central role in theMiracle Valley shootout later that year. In 1983, Babbitt sent the Arizona National Guard to thestrike against thePhelps Dodge mining company inMorenci, Arizona.
With the retirement of RepublicanBarry Goldwater from the U.S. Senate in 1986, many in Arizona expected Babbitt to oppose RepresentativeJohn McCain for the seat. In a surprise press conference in 1985, Babbitt instead announced he would forgo the Senate race to concentrate on a White House bid in 1988.[7]
In 1979, Babbitt was appointed by PresidentJimmy Carter to serve as a commissioner on the President's Commission on the Accident atThree Mile Island, a six-month investigation of the March 1979 accident at a commercial nuclear power plant at Middletown,Pennsylvania.[8] Babbitt spoke at the1980 Democratic National Convention, which nominated incumbentJimmy Carter as the Democratic candidate for president.
A founding member of theDemocratic Leadership Council and the chairman of theDemocratic Governors Association in 1985, Babbitt sought theDemocratic Party's 1988 nomination for President of the United States. Among his proposals was a national sales tax to remedy the then-record budget deficits piled up during the several past administrations. He enjoyed positive press attention (called a "boomlet" inUSA Today), but after finishing out of the top tier of candidates in theIowa caucuses andNew Hampshire primary, he dropped out of the race. In an intentional reference toRichard Nixon (who said after losing the California governorship in the1962 election that the press "won't have [me] to kick around anymore"), Babbitt joked in his last campaign press conference that the media "won't have Bruce Babbitt to puff up anymore."The Washington Post reported that Babbitt dropped this line from the prepared text of his withdrawal speech.[9]
After leading theLeague of Conservation Voters, Babbitt served for eight years, 1993–2001, as theSecretary of the Interior during thePresidency of Bill Clinton. According to John D. Leshy:
Babbitt worked to protect scenic and historic areas of America's federal public lands. In 2000 Babbitt created theNational Landscape Conservation System, a collection of 15U.S. National Monuments and 14National Conservation Areas to be managed by theBureau of Land Management in such a way as to keep them "healthy, open, and wild."
A major issue involved low fees charged ranchers who grazed cattle on public lands. The "animal unit month" (AUM) fee was only $1.35 and was far below the 1983 market value. The argument was that the federal government in effect was subsidizing ranchers, with a few major corporations controlling millions of acres of grazing land. Babbitt tried to rally environmentalists and raise fees, but senators from Western states successfully blocked his proposals.[11][12]
In 1993, Babbitt was seriously considered by President Clinton to replace retiringUnited States Supreme Court JusticeByron White. Due to his lead on environmental issues, however, Clinton nominatedRuth Bader Ginsburg instead. Clinton again considered Babbitt for the high court in 1994 whenHarry Blackmun announced his retirement. Babbitt was passed over again, this time in favor ofStephen Breyer, due to Breyer's immense support in the U.S. Senate, primarily because he was close to Sen.Ted Kennedy.[13]
In 1998 Babbitt was the subject of a federal grand jury investigation into whether he had lied to Congress about having denied an Indian casino license in Wisconsin in return for political donations. The controversy has been calledWampumgate. Babbitt was cleared of wrongdoing in the special prosecutor's final report on the investigation the following year.[14]
 | This section of abiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "Bruce Babbitt" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(November 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Babbitt took a job as chief counsel of the environmental litigation department ofLatham & Watkins, an internationallaw firm, after leaving the Department of the Interior. During his time at Latham & Watkins, Babbitt offended many environmentalists by taking on two clients trying to build large developments near the coastline. Babbitt defended both projects, one onHearst Corporation land in central California and the other on theAhmanson Ranch north of Los Angeles.[15]
Babbitt has attracted the ire of some environmentalists and Native American groups for his representation of theArizona Snowbowl ski resort and its effort to expand the resort and use waste water to makeartificial snow.[16]
He serves astrustee of theWorld Wildlife Fund Secretariat Trustees in the U.S., and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations until 2012.[17] He has also served on the Board of Directors since 2009 for theAmazon Conservation Association, whose mission is to conserve the biological diversity of the Amazon.[18] Babbitt is also a member of the ReFormers Caucus ofIssue One.[19]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Attorney General of Arizona 1975–1978 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forGovernor of Arizona 1978,1982 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theDemocratic Governors Association 1984–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Arizona 1978–1987 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of the Interior 1993–2001 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Cabinet Member | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Cabinet Member | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Cabinet Member |
 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
