Gifford Pinchot
President William McKinley appointed Pinchot as the Head of the Division of Forestry in 1898, and he became the first Chief of the U.S. Forest Service in 1905 under Roosevelt. He became part of TR's “Tennis Cabinet."
Together Pinchot and Roosevelt made conservation a public issue and national policy. Roosevelt considered the enactment of a conservation program his greatest contribution to American domestic policy. In speaking of Gifford Pinchot’s role TR wrote, "among the many, many public officials who under my administration rendered literally invaluable service to the people of the United States, Gifford Pinchot on the whole, stood first."
Roosevelt’s August 31, 1910 “New Nationalism” speech delivered in Osawatomie, Kansas was written by Gifford Pinchot and edited by William Allen White. The NY Times reported Roosevelt was suggesting Communism. The Washington Post called it Socialism. Pinchot’s actions resulted in the election of Wilson in 1912 that will ultimately alter the Republican Party, impact World War I, destroy Roosevelt’s political influence, end his career and send him to Brazil.
In the last chapter of his autobiography Pinchot wrote his conservation poicy was based on three central issues:
1. Wisely renew our natural resources
2. Control their products in the common interest
3. Insure the people's rights won't be controlled by the power of monopolies over natural resources.
October 30, 1914 Cartoon That Hit The Papers After The Publication of TR's Autobiograhy
Roosevelt hand picks Pinchot to continue his policies under the Taft Administration. TR choose Taft for his easy going nature and easy to work with personality. He was confident the two could work together and continue his initiatives. When it was discovered Taft was going to be his own man things began to falter. Soon after the election Pinchot accuses Taft of political corruption linking his to attacks against Richard Ballinger his Secretary of the interior. In January 1910 Pinchot delivered an open letter to congress claiming Taft and his Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger of violating the fundamental principles of the country's heritage and conversation. He called for a criminal investigation into what he claimed were interests friendly to the administration gaining illegal access to Alaskan coal fields. Taft fired Pinchot.
From January to May of 1910 the house held hearings on Ballinger and cleared him of all wrongdoing. In 1939 Pringle in his autobiography of Taft wrote that Ballinger was an innocent victo of vindictive Roosevelt loyalists. It was this rift that caused Roosevelt to side with Pichot against Taft and ultimagely to bolt the Republican Party and run for president in 1912.