April 22nd, 2021

Gaylord Nelson was born in 1916 in Clear Lake, Wisconsin. In 1948, Nelson was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate. He remained there until 1958 when he was elected governor of Wisconsin. He served for four years as governor before returning to the Senate in 1962. In 1963 he convinced President John F. Kennedy to take a national tour to discuss conservation issues. And a few years later, with what began as a teach-in about environmental issues, Senator Nelson founded Earth Day.

An impressive twenty million Americans participated in the first observance of Earth Day on April 22, 1970. Years later, the event was described as “one of the most remarkable happenings in the history of democracy” by American Heritage magazine. Today, Earth Day is an annual observance that has grown to a week or more in many communities.

After leaving the Senate in 1981, Nelson continued his campaign for environmental stewardship as chairman, then counselor, of The Wilderness Society. He advocated protecting America’s national parks, national forests, and other public lands from harmful development. He also called for environmentally sustainable development.

Nelson’s efforts on behalf of the environment brought him widespread admiration and acclaim. In 1995 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor. And in 2002, the Institute for Environmental Studies at UW-Madison was renamed in his honor.

Gaylord Nelson died in 2005 at the age of 89. His commitment to environmental stewardship and social justice lives on every year on April 22.