The
longest serving Supreme Court Justice in history, William Orville Douglas was
born in Minnesota but grew up in Yakima, Washington. Like Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
who appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1939, Douglas was stricken with polio
when he was a child. Because of this, to strengthen his leg muscles, he walked
and hiked through the mountains surrounding his childhood home. Ever after, he
had a great love of nature. Douglas was an independent thinker and a brilliant
judge, but he was also an environmental activist. In 1954, he organized a hike
along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath to sway public opinion away from building
a highway through the natural areas. The hike succeeded and in 1971, the area
became a national historic park.
Bio
© Larry Auld
