Harold L. Ickes

Common card · No. 297115

Harold LeClair Ickes ( IK-əs; March 15, 1874 – February 3, 1952) was an American administrator, politician and lawyer. He served as the United States secretary of the interior for nearly 13 years from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office, and the second longest-serving Cabinet member in U.S. history after James Wilson. Ickes and Labor Secretary Frances Perkins were the only original members of the Roosevelt Cabinet who remained in office for his entire presidency. Ickes was responsible for implementing many of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs. He was in charge of the Public Works Administration, a major relief program, and led the federal government's environmental efforts. In his day, he was considered a prominent liberal spokesman, a skillful orator and a noted supporter of many African-American causes, although he at times yielded to political expediency where state-level segregation was concerned. Before his national-level political career...

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