This Day in History: 1913-01-09

Richard M. Nixon is born this day in 1913 in Yorba Linda, California. As US president from 1969-1974, Nixon’s environmental legacy is powerfully mixed and often debated. On the one hand, says Michael Lemmonick of Climate Central, Nixon helped pass major foundational environmental legislation such as NEPA, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and acts establishing the EPA and NOAA, and so ranks as one of our greenest presidents. On the other hand, Nixon vetoed the Clean Water Bill (too expensive) and fired Interior Secretary Walter Hickel (too green). For more, see “A green Nixon doesn’t wash,” on this site.