Russell Wilbur "Russ" Peterson was an American scientist and politician from
Wilmington,
Delaware. He served as
Governor of Delaware as a member of the
Republican Party.
[2] An influential environmentalist, he served as chairman of the
Council on Environmental Quality and president of the
National Audubon Society.
[3]
(October 3, 1916 – February 21, 2011)
Early life and family
Peterson was born in
Portage, Wisconsin, the son of Anton and Emma Peterson. The eighth of nine children, his father Anton was an immigrant from Sweden who worked as a bartender and barber.
[4] Peterson attended the
University of Wisconsin–Madison where he received a
B.S. in 1938, working as a dishwasher in the chemistry lab to pay the bills and a
Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1942.
[5] In 1937 he married Lillian Turner, with whom he had four children: R. Glen, Peter J., Kristin P. Havill and Elin P. Sullivan. Lillian died in 1994. He married his second wife, June Jenkins, who had been recently widowed, in 1995.
[5] He was a member of the
Unitarian Universalist Association.
Professional and political career
After graduate school, Peterson was recruited by the
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company to work as a research chemist at its Experimental Station in Wilmington. For over 26 years he held prominent jobs in research, manufacturing and sales, and finally in corporate management, becoming director of research and development in 1963.
[6]
All the while, Peterson had become a well known civic activist from suburban New Castle County. He had been involved in the “New Day for Delaware” attempt at governmental reform in the
Boggs administration, and had organized an effort at prison reform known as the “Three-S Citizen’s Campaign,” salvage people, save dollars, and shrink the crime rate. His leadership skills inspired Henry B. du Pont to appoint him to the executive committee of the Greater Wilmington Development Council. He was put in charge of the Neighborhood Improvement Program, tasked with solving poverty in the black community. By 1968 Delaware had experienced rioting following the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., and National Guard troops were still on the streets of Wilmington on the orders of the conservative Democratic Governor,
Charles L. Terry, Jr.. Peterson seemed to have a fresh, progressive approach for addressing these and other issues and was drafted by Republican state leaders to run for Governor.
Governor of Delaware
Accordingly, Peterson was elected Governor of Delaware in 1968, narrowly defeating the incumbent Governor Charles L. Terry, Jr. His first act was to remove the National Guard from Wilmington.
[7] His administration was one that enacted several substantial changes, with perhaps the biggest change being the successful implementation of the old “New Day for Delaware” plan that transformed the organization of state government. Delaware’s executive departments had been run by commissions, appointed by the governor, but with considerable policy independence, and overlapping terms. As a result the governor had control over his departments only through persuasion and the budget. The newly enacted law provided for an eleven-man cabinet organization, with department leadership provided by persons serving at the pleasure of the Governor. In all, Peterson eliminated 100 commissions and boards. Neither Peterson nor his successor,
Sherman W. Tribbitt, were fully able to take advantage of this change, but their successors all made it one of the foundations of the present Delaware state government.
Peterson was also a dedicated environmentalist and the guiding force behind the Coastal Zone Act of 1972. This act protected Delaware's inland bays and waterways by banning heavy industry from a two-mile-wide strip of Delaware's 115 mile coastline, about 20% of the state. The major consequence of the Act was preventing
Shell from building a $200m oil refinery.
[8] This piece of legislation has since been used by other states to protect their shorelines. During his tenure as governor Peterson chaired the Education Commission of the States from 1970 to 1971. When
Maurice Stans, the
Secretary of Commerce under
Richard Nixon complained to Peterson that the Act harmed America's security and prosperity, Peterson listed a dozen ways in which companies could continue their work without harming Delaware's coastline. The Act was unsuccessfully challenged in court, and Peterson led the environmental movement in Delaware by sporting a badge on his lapel that said "To Hell with Shell!"
[9]
These were a breathtaking number of changes for normally conservative Delaware - Peterson appointed the first black man, Arva Jackson, to the
University of Delaware's board of trustees, insisted on the hiring of black people to the State Police, pressed for the state's open housing law and relaxed abortion laws.
[10] In 1972, Delaware became the last state to outlaw
flogging as a form of punishment, removing
Red Hannah, America's last whipping post. Meanwhile, in spite of warnings, Peterson seemed to be unaware of growing financial problems for the state. Finally, in June 1971, Peterson admitted he had made revenue miscalculations resulting in a $5 million deficit. The mistake opened the door to opponents of the other changes to unleash a barrage of criticism. As a result, when he sought a second term the next year, he was nearly defeated in the Republican primary by former Lieutenant Governor
David P. Buckson. In the general election, he was defeated by the Democratic former Lieutenant Governor
Sherman W. Tribbitt after announcing an unexpected tax increase in the middle of the campaign.
[11] He left office with Delaware enjoying a budget surplus.
Later career
After leaving office, Nixon, impressed by Peterson's answers to Stans' questions, appointed Peterson as
Chairman of the
Council on Environmental Quality. Peterson served from 1973 - 1976, leading a taskforce on the elimination of
chlorofluorocarbons and helping to shape environmental reviews as mandated by the
National Environmental Policy Act. In November 1973, Peterson worked with then-
Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller to establish the
Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.
[12] Peterson served as the President of the
National Audubon Society from 1979 to 1985,
[13] he fought
Ronald Reagan's attempts to weaken environmental regulations, pushed the Society beyond its traditional remit into areas like energy policy, toxic waste and population control. He hired more scientists, started an environmental curriculum for school children and got
Ted Turner to finance the TV series
The World of Audubon, narrated by
Robert Redford, amongst others.
[14]
"Every time something wonderful has happened when I was president and since then in the field of environmental quality in this country or on a global basis, Russ Peterson has been intimately involved in it."
A keen
bird watcher, Peterson took up the hobby after taking his son to the
Everglades in 1954 and identified over 1,000 birds during his life.
[16] In October 1996 he switched his party affiliation to the
Democratic Party, after endorsing Democrats in presidential elections since 1988.
[5] The
Russell W. Peterson Urban Wildlife Refuge, just outside Wilmington, has been named in his honor.
[17] Peterson also served as a visiting professor at
Dartmouth College in 1985,
Carleton College in 1986, and the
University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1987.
[5] He also served as President of the
International Council for Bird Preservation, as a principal officer in three international environmental organisations, worked for the
United Nations on various activities and as Chairman of the Center on the Long-Term Biological Consequences of Nuclear War, working with
Carl Sagan,
Paul Ehrlich and
Peter Raven to employ scientists to inform world leaders of the dangers of nuclear weapons.
[18]
In 1982, Russell W. Peterson was honored to be selected as the Swedish-American of the year by the Vasa Order of American.
[19] In 1984 he was given the
Robert Marshall Award by the
Wilderness Society, in 1994 the
National Wildlife Federation gave him the
Conservationist of the Year award, in 1995, the
League of Conservation Voters awarded him its lifetime achievement award and in 2007 he was inducted into the
Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame.
In April 2008, a small ship was rechristened "Russell W. Peterson." The ship, owned by Aqua Survey Inc. was used for the study of migratory bird routes. However, on May 12, 2008, the "Russell W. Peterson" was destroyed in a storm off the Delaware coast, killing one of its two crew members.
[20]
Peterson suffered a stroke on the morning of Monday, February 21, 2011 and died at 8:10pm that evening
[21] at his Centreville home
[22]. He was survived by his wife, four children, seventeen grandchildren and sixteen great-grandchildren.
Almanac
Elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1. The Governor takes office the third Tuesday of January and has a four year term.
| Public Offices |
| Office | Type | Location | Began office | Ended office | notes |
| Governor | Executive | Dover | January 21, 1969 | January 16, 1973 |
|
Quotes about Peterson
- "...your courage, your eloquence and your determination to keep the big picture in view provided both inspiration and motivation to the broader environmental community across the nation." - Former Council of Economic Qulaity staff director Steven Jellinek.
- "Renaissance man – scientist, scholar, statesman, educator, public servant, author, esteemed colleague: yours has been an extraordinary and profound contribution toward protecting and enhancing the environment of our nation and our world, follow, in your own words, a ‘one world’ vision – so essential to the preservation of this fragile planet." - The Wilderness Society, 1984
- "remarkable, unstinting, courageous and insightful contribution to environmental protection around the world." - National Wildlife Federation president and chief executive officer, Jay Hair, 1994
- "Ever the scientist and always the humanist, you have woven these twin passions into a lifetime of dedication to protecting this earth. Whatever the job, whatever the administration, you have put the environment ahead of politics, supporting pro-environmentalists wherever you have found them." - The League of Conservation Voters, 1995
- "Just after his 75th birthday, Gov. Peterson came to see me in the governor's office and said, 'We ought to do something about the riverfront along the Christina River.' I said, 'Will you help me?' He said, 'You bet!' And he did. The rest is history. At an age when most people are ready to push back and take life easy, Russ Peterson just kept picking up speed. He married his wife, June, who proved to be the wind beneath his wings. Her love and enthusiasm enabled him to pack more into the last 15 years of his life than anyone I've ever known. What a giant. God knows I'll miss him. We all will." - Senator Tom Carper, 2011
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