
Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes
The longest serving Secretary of Interior (1933-1946) and most influential of the 20th century, Ickes oversaw the National Park Service throughout the Roosevelt Administration. Previously classified State Department records document that Ickes supported the creation of both a national and international park in the Big Bend of Texas—even after the establishment of Big Bend National Park in 1944.
(1874-1952)