Harold Ickes was born in Pennsylvania in 1874, however he quickly moved to a Chicago suburb where he lived with his aunt's family. After graduating high school as valedictorian, Ickes began studies at the University of Chicago, eventually taking law school. After being admitted to the Illinois bar in 1907, Ickes took shape as a social activist of sorts. Ickes volunteered at settlement houses and occasionally handled civil liberties cases pro bono (for free). Interestingly enough, Ickes worked for Teddy Roosevelt during his unsuccessful 1912 presidential bid and later for FDR, who needed a Progressive Republican for his cabinet.
Ickes was appointed Secretary of the Interior meaning that he was in charge of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Civilian Conservation Corps and Public Works Administration. Ickes was given the nickname "Honest Harold" because he handled 6 billion dollars over the course of 6 years without any scandal. Ickes was also socially progressive for his time. He was one of the first government officials to speak out against Nazi actions, and he promoted the civil rights of black Americans, appointing the first black federal judge in 1937. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Ickes was concerned with desegregating the Department of the Interior, and so when he contracted out labor, he required that a certain percentage of their payroll be for black labor. Ickes was also a boon to the National Park Service, as he enlarged the organization substantially.
In addition to his civil rights activism for blacks, Ickes also sought to protect the rights of Japanese Americans and for the decrease of military strength in Hawaii. While he was largely unsuccessful inn both of these undertakings, Ickes tried nonetheless calling the internment camps "fancy-named concentration camps" which were "both stupid and cruel".
During his career, Ickes headed the PWA, which aided the nation greatly in recovering from the Great Depression. Ickes was very strong in his beliefs and in their defense he was often branded hot-headed and stubborn. In comparison to a few leaders, Ickes was every bit as idealist as Wilson, but due to the increased autocracy of the Depression era government, he was able to get as much done as Teddy Roosevelt.
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ReplyDeleteI liked how you compared Ickes to other leaders at the time like Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt because it provided a sense of what he had the ability to do in his position. Did you know that Ickes didn't want to speed up the integration of blacks, instead he wanted to provide emergency relief and also wanted to upgraded the skills of the black?. He was also determined to prevent waste and over-consumption, and this belief affected many of his decisions like putting the jobless back to work. This a link to some of his lasting contributions:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1624
I like how you chose to write about a less known name so we can all learn about the important people that arn't as famous. I admire that in times where corruption was abundant he could handle that much money without turning dark and having any scandals. I also agree with Victor it was a good choice to connect him to the other figures of his time.
ReplyDeleteThis is very informative I like how you chose something to write about that we did not discuss in class, but it helped me understand things we did discuss in class. "As interior secretary, Ickes moved quickly to address concerns of American Indians and the National Park System. His greatest contribution was his administration of the Public Works Administration (PWA), a massive New Deal construction program". Do you think Ickes was extremely important in the US government or was he just another regular man who worked in the government?
ReplyDeletesource-https://www.gwu.edu/~erpapers/teachinger/glossary/ickes-harold.cfm