Ickes, H.L. Diaries
Summary
Harold LeClair Ickes (1874-1952) served as Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Interior for the entire length of Roosevelt's presidency. A Republican who distanced himself from the party establishment, he was a consistent and outspoken champion of progressive causes, FDR’s “liberal lightning rod,” who supported social justice and civil rights, criticized the Japanese American internment, and advocated self-rule and eventual independence for the world’s colonies. During the Great Depression Ickes headed the Public Works Administration.
Ickes regarded himself as a conservationist in the mold of Theodore Roosevelt. In his role as Secretary of the Interior, he took a special interest in the administration of the National Parks Service. Between 1933 and 1941, the NPS lands increased from 8.2 million acres to over 20 million acres. He arguedunsuccessfully for a comprehensive Wilderness Act, and for the expansion of the Department of Interior into the Department of Conservation.
The three-volume _Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes,_published posthumously in 1953-1954, is Ickes’s own record of his official and personal life in Washington. Some portions of the original typescript, deemed too detailed or sensitive to persons still living to be published at that time, were excised. Drew University Library owns a photo-reproduction of the typescript, with copy edits as it was prepared for publication. The volumes are unprocessed but available for consultation.