I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 750 

To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Stewart Lee Udall 

in recognition of his contributions to the Nation as hero for the environment, a champion for conservation, a civil right activist, a Native American crusader, and an advocate for the arts. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2013 

Mr. THOMPSON of California (for himself and Mr. GOSAR) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Stewart Lee Udall in recognition of his contributions to the 

Nation as hero for the environment, a champion for 

conservation, a civil right activist, a Native American 

crusader, and an advocate for the arts. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 The Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) Stewart Lee Udall was born to former Ari6 zona Supreme Court Justice Levi Stewart Udall and 


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1 Louise Lee Udall on January 31, 1920, in Saint 

2 Johns, Arizona. 

3 (2) Stewart Lee Udall began serving his coun4 try in 1942 when he joined the United States Army 

5 Air Corps (predecessor of the United States Air 

6 Force) during World War II, serving as an enlisted 

7 B–24 waist gunner in Italy. He flew more than 50 

8 missions over Western Europe over 4 years, receiv9 ing the Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters. 

10 (3) After coming home from war, Stewart Lee 

11 Udall returned to the University of Arizona where 

12 he received a bachelors and law degree and was ad13 mitted to the Arizona State Bar. After graduating 

14 from law school, he began his own private practice 

15 and eventually established the law firm of Udall and 

16 Udall with his brother Morris K. Udall. 

17 (4) Stewart Lee Udall’s first elected office was 

18 as a member of the Amphitheater School Board 

19 (1951), where he participated in desegregating the 

20 Amphitheater School District before the United 

21 States Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of 

22 Education. 

23 (5) Beginning in 1954, Stewart Lee Udall was 

24 elected to serve 4 terms as United States Represent25 ative from Arizona’s second district. 


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1 (6) Upon the 1960 Presidential election, Presi2 dent Kennedy appointed Stewart Lee Udall as Sec3 retary of the Interior. He maintained this position 

4 for 8 years, where his accomplishments under Presi5 dents Kennedy and Johnson made him a hero for 

6 the environmental and conservation communities. 

7 (7) Among the legislative accomplishments dur8 ing his cabinet career, Stewart Lee Udall helped 

9 guide numerous landmark environmental measures 

10 through Congress, including the Wilderness Act of 

11 1964, the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act 

12 of 1965, the Endangered Species Preservation Act 

13 of 1966, the National Trail System Act of 1968, the 

14 Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, the Wild and Sce15 nic Rivers Act of 1968, the Clear Air Act, the Water 

16 Quality Act of 1965, and the Clean Water Restora17 tion Act of 1966. 

18 (8) Stewart Lee Udall was a coauthor of the 

19 Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. This legislation 

20 created several new social programs that helped pro21 mote the health, education, and general welfare of 

22 the impoverished. Some of the programs remaining 

23 today include Head Start and the Job Corps. 

24 (9) As Secretary of the Interior during the 

25 Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Stewart Lee 


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1 Udall expanded the National Park Service by pre2 siding over the acquisition of 3.85 million acres of 

3 new holdings, including 4 national parks 

4 (Canyonlands in Utah, Redwood in California, North 

5 Cascades in Washington State, and Guadalupe 

6 Mountains in Texas), 6 national monuments, 9 na7 tional recreation areas, 20 historic sites, 50 wildlife 

8 refuges, and 8 national seashores. 

9 (10) Stewart Lee Udall established the Bureau 

10 of Outdoor Recreation to coordinate all Federal out11 door programs. 

12 (11) In September 1966, as Secretary of the 

13 Interior, Stewart Lee Udall announced the creation 

14 of Project EROS, which led the United States to 

15 state of the art science and technology that includes 

16 Landsat, the longest running enterprise for acquisi17 tion of satellite imagery. Project EROS began as a 

18 revolutionary program that utilized Earth-orbiting 

19 satellites that map the planet to gather data about 

20 the Earth’s natural resources along with changes in 

21 weather and climate. 

22 (12) During his tenure as Secretary of the Inte23 rior, Stewart Lee Udall also became a champion of 

24 the arts, convincing President Kennedy to invite the 

25 renowned poet Robert Frost to speak at his inauVerDate Mar 15 2010 23:44 Feb 27, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H750.IH H750

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1 guration and setting in motion initiatives that led to 

2 the creation of the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap 

3 Farm Park, the National Endowments for the Arts 

4 and the Humanities, and the revived Ford’s Theatre. 

5 (13) While Stewart Lee Udall was Secretary of 

6 the Interior, he continued to fight against segrega7 tion when he threatened to refuse the all-White 

8 Washington Redskins access to the new stadium lo9 cated in Washington, DC, of which he was the Fed10 eral landlord. 

11 (14) After he left Federal Government service, 

12 Stewart Lee Udall continued helping the American 

13 people by becoming a crusader for victims of radi14 ation exposure (particularly Native Americans) re15 sulting from the Federal Government’s Cold War 

16 nuclear programs. He helped to pass the Radiation 

17 Exposure Compensation Act in 1990, which was 

18 signed by President George Bush. 

19 (15) Stewart Lee Udall was a prolific writer, 

20 penning countless articles, essays, and op-eds. He 

21 also co-authored 9 books, and wrote 9 of his own, 

22 including the seminal title in the conservation move23 ment, ‘‘The Quiet Crisis’’. 

24 (16) Among his many honors, Stewart Lee 

25 Udall was a recipient of the Ansel Adams Award, 


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1 the Wilderness Society’s highest conservation award, 

2 the Common Cause Public Service Achievement 

3 Award for his lifelong protection of the environment 

4 and the defense of American citizens who were vic5 tims of nuclear weapons testing, and the United Na6 tions Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement. 

7 (17) Until his passing in 2010, Stewart Lee 

8 Udall continued his devotion to public service as an 

9 author, historian, scholar, lecturer, environmental 

10 activist, lawyer, and citizen of the outdoors. 

11 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 

12 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of 

13 the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tem14 pore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements 

15 for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold 

16 medal of appropriate design to honor Stewart Lee Udall 

17 in recognition of his contributions to the Nation as hero 

18 for the environment, a champion for conservation, a civil 

19 right activist, a Native American crusader, and an advo20 cate for the arts. 

21 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For purposes of the 

22 presentation referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary 

23 of the Treasury (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec24 retary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, 


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1 devices, and inscriptions to be determined by the Sec2 retary. 

3 SEC. 3. DUPLICATE MEDALS. 

4 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in 

5 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2 

6 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe, at 

7 a price sufficient to cover the cost thereof, including labor, 

8 materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead expenses, 

9 and the cost of the gold medal. 

10 SEC. 4. STATUS OF MEDALS. 

11 (a) NATIONAL MEDALS.—The medals struck under 

12 this Act are national medals for purposes of chapter 51 

13 of title 31, United States Code. 

14 (b) NUMISMATIC ITEMS.—For purposes of sections 

15 5134 and 5136 of title 31, United States Code, all medals 

16 struck under this Act shall be considered to be numismatic 

17 items. 

18 SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF 

19 SALE. 

20 (a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is 

21 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint 

22 Public Enterprise Fund such amounts as may be nec23 essary to pay for the costs of the medals struck pursuant 

24 to this Act. 


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1 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the 

2 sale of duplicate bronze medals authorized under section 

3 3 shall be deposited into the United States Mint Public 

4 Enterprise Fund. 

Æ 


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