UA News

The Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation renaming ceremony took place on Friday and featured Stewart Udall and national leaders gathered in support of his contributions to southern Arizona and the U.S.

A Tucson event with national reach took place on Friday as University of Arizona alumus and former Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall was honored with the renaming of the Morris K. Udall Foundation to include his name.

Under a bill passed by Congress last month and signed by President Barack Obama, the Tucson-based Morris K. Udall Foundation has been renamed the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation.

The federal agency was founded in 1992 to honor Morris Udall, who represented southern Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives for 30 years, from 1961 to 1991. Stewart Udall, who also represented Arizona in Congress from 1955-1961, is Morris Udall's older brother, The two worked together on environmental and Native American legislation while Stewart Udall headed the Interior Department and Morris Udall served in Congress.

In renaming the foundation, Congress recognized the shared legacy, vision and leadership of the Udall family.

The foundation provides federally funded scholarships for college students who intend to pursue careers related to the environment, as well as to Native American students pursuing tribal policy or health care careers.

In addition, the foundation provides funding for the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy at the UA. It  also founded the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy at the UA in 2001. 

The celebration event was held at the Udall Building in Downtown Tucson with more than 100 supporters and guests in attendance.

Gray clouds rolled in as U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, (D-NM); U.S. Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO);  U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), Deputy Secretary of the Interior David Hayes, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and Terrence L.  Bracy, chairman of the foundation's board of trustees, spoke at the event. 

A statement from U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), who introduced the bill to rename the foundation, and said, "Every Secretary of the interior leaves a mark on the environment, but Stewart truly left a mark on the nation."

Giffords said the impact of Morris and Stewart Udall was notable nationwide now and in the era when the brothers were referred to as the Kennedys of the west.

Hayes said "Stewart Udall was a voice for the environment when no one was raising that voice."

The speakers listed the notable achievements of the brothers but the moment everyone awaited came from Steward Udall himself.  

"Our country has become too well recognized for its power and military achievements. Earlier in my life, our country was esteemed and respected world-wide but not for our military but for our idealism. The thing that gives our country greatness is idealism and the support for idealism," Stewart Udall said.

He also praised the professors at the UA thanking them for their contributions to the Udall scholars and exclaimed, "This is my alma mater, the University of Arizona!"

In addition, the event celebrated the Udall Foundation's dedication of its Parks in Focus program to Stewart Udall in recognition of his commitment to conservation and national parks. The program will be known as the Stewart L. Udall Parks in Focus Program.

Stewart Udall, who now lives in New Mexico, was born in Saint John's, Ariz. After attending the UA for two years, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces and flew missions over Europe. For his service, Udall received the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters.

In 1946 Udall returned to the UA and studied law and played on the basketball team.

In 1954, he was elected to Congress and in 1960 was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to serve as the secretary of the interior. Udall later worked under President. Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed the Wilderness Act, the Water Quality Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and National Trails Bill during Udall's tenure.

During his years at Interior, Udall was responsible for the addition of more than 100 parks, national monuments, seashores, lakeshores, recreation areas, historic sites and wildlife refuges to the national park system.

Udall has written several books. One, "The Quiet Crisis," about the nation's environmental practices, was published in 1963 and became a best-seller. The book's release coincided with "Silent Spring," written by Rachel Carson, who has been credited with advancing the environmental movement.

The UA Libraries maintains a manuscript collection of Stewart Udall's work. He is credited with some of the groundwork for initiatives that resulted in the founding of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Endowment for Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.