Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy, Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great Environmental Awakening

by Douglas Brinkley

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Acclaimed historian Douglas Brinkley chronicles in vivid detail how the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring — and Carson’s close partnership with President John F. Kennedy and his administration — launched the modern environmental movement. With Silent Spring Revolution, Brinkley thrillingly caps an arc of work exploring the 20th century histories of the Presidency and ecological awareness in the US, how we moved from the conservation imperatives of Theodore Roosevelt to today’s intentional activism is a twisty tale of fits and starts, politics, money, villains, and heroes.

New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed presidential historian Douglas Brinkley chronicles the rise of environmental activism during the Long Sixties (1960-1973), telling the story of an indomitable generation that saved the natural world under the leadership of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Richard Nixon.

With the detonation of the Trinity explosion in the New Mexico desert in 1945, the United States took control of Earth’s destiny for the first time. After the Truman administration dropped atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II, a grim new epoch had arrived. During the early Cold War years, the federal government routinely detonated nuclear devices in the Nevada desert and the Marshall Islands. Not only was nuclear fallout a public health menace, but entire ecosystems were contaminated with radioactive materials. During the 1950s, an unprecedented postwar economic boom took hold, with America becoming the world’s leading hyperindustrial and military giant. But with this historic prosperity came a heavy cost: oceans began to die, wilderness vanished, the insecticide DDT poisoned ecosystems, wildlife perished, and chronic smog blighted major cities.

In Silent Spring Revolution, Douglas Brinkley pays tribute to those who combated the mauling of the natural world in the Long Sixties: Rachel Carson (a marine biologist and author), David Brower (director of the Sierra Club), Barry Commoner (an environmental justice advocate), Coretta Scott King (an antinuclear activist), Stewart Udall (the secretary of the interior), William O. Douglas (Supreme Court justice), Cesar Chavez (a labor organizer), and other crusaders are profiled with verve and insight.

Carson’s book Silent Spring, published in 1962, depicted how detrimental DDT was to living creatures. The exposé launched an ecological revolution that inspired such landmark legislation as the Wilderness Act (1964), the Clean Air Acts (1963 and 1970), and the Endangered Species Acts (1966, 1969, and 1973). In intimate detail, Brinkley extrapolates on such epic events as the Donora (Pennsylvania) smog incident, JFK’s Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, Great Lakes preservation, the Santa Barbara oil spill, and the first Earth Day.

With the United States grappling with climate change and resource exhaustion, Douglas Brinkley’s meticulously researched and deftly written Silent Spring Revolution reminds us that a new generation of twenty-first-century environmentalists can save the planet from ruin.

Silent Spring Revolution features two 8-page color photo inserts.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063212930
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	11/15/2022
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	896
Sales rank:	62,566
File size:	52 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Douglas Brinkley is the Katherine Tsanoff Brown Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University, presidential historian for the New-York Historical Society, trustee of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. The Chicago Tribune dubbed him “America’s New Past Master.” He is the recipient of such distinguished environmental leadership prizes as the Frances K. Hutchison Medal (Garden Club of America), the Robin W. Winks Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks (National Parks Conservation Association), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Lifetime Heritage Award. His book The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast received the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He was awarded a Grammy for Presidential Suite and is the recipient of seven honorary doctorates in American studies. His two-volume, annotated Nixon Tapes won the Arthur S. Link–Warren F. Kuehl Prize. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and three children.

Table of Contents

Preface xiii

Part I Protoenvironmentalists (1945-1959)

Chapter 1 The Ebb and Flow of John F. Kennedy 3

Chapter 2 Harry Truman: Polluted and Radiated America 17

Chapter 3 Rachel Carson and the Shore of the Sea 43

Chapter 4 William O. Douglas and the Protoenvironmentalists 65

Chapter 5 Wilderness Politics, Dinosaur National Monument, and the Nature Conservancy 92

Chapter 6 Saving Shorelines 119

Chapter 7 Protesting Plastics, Nuclear Testing, and DDT 138

Part II John F. Kennedy's New Frontier (1961-1963)

Chapter 8 Forging the New Frontier: Stewart Udall and Lyndon Johnson 157

Chapter 9 Wallace Stegner's "Wilderness Letter" 183

Chapter 10 The Green Face of America 196

Chapter 11 Rachel Carson, the Laurance Rockefeller Report, and Kennedy's Science Curve 218

Chapter 12 The White House Conservation Conference (May 24-25, 1962) 234

Chapter 13 Rachel Carson's Alarm 252

Chapter 14 Point Reyes (California) and Padre Island (Texas) National Seashores 266

Chapter 15 Campaigns to Save the Hudson River and Bodega Bay 282

Chapter 16 The Tag Team of John F. Kennedy, Stewart Udall, and Rachel Carson 300

Chapter 17 The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty 322

Part III The Environmentalism of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon (1964-1973)

Chapter 18 JFK's Last Conservation Journey 333

Chapter 19 The Mississippi Fish Kill, the Clean Air Act, and American Beautification 350

Chapter 20 The Great Society: Rachel Carson and Howard Zahniser's Legacies 366

Chapter 21 The Wilderness Act of 1964 389

Chapter 22 Ending the Bulldozing of America 408

Chapter 23 America's Natural Heritage: Cape Lookout, Big Bend, the Grand Canyon 435

Chapter 24 Defenders: Historical Preservation, Endangered Species, and Bedroll Scientists 457

Chapter 25 "Sue the Bastards!" and Environmental Justice 477

Chapter 26 The Unraveling of America, 1968 501

Chapter 27 Lyndon Johnson: Champion of Wild Rivers and National Scenic Trails (October 2, 1968) 526

Chapter 28 Taking Stock of New Conservation Wins 544

Chapter 29 Santa Barbara, the Cuyahoga River, and the National Environmental Policy Act 562

Chapter 30 Generation Earth Day, 1970-1971 592

Chapter 31 Nixon's Environmental Activism of 1972: The Great Lakes Protection, the DDT Ban, and the Stockholm Conference 629

Epilogue Last Leaves on the Tree 652

Acknowledgments 675

Appendix I National Wildlife Refuges 687

Appendix II National Parks 693

Appendix III Protection for Animals Initial Endangered Species List 1966-1967 701

Notes 705

Bibliography 807

Image Credits 821

Index 825

Editorial Reviews

"Doug Brinkley has done it again! Silent Spring Revolution showcases his mastery of the art of storytelling, deep knowledge of presidential history and passion for the natural world. Through exhaustive research and beautiful writing, Brinkley creates vibrant portraits of the grassroots activists—Rachel Carson, Cesar Chavez and William O’Douglas— whose work influenced the levers of power inside the White Houses of John Kennedy, Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson and Richard Nixon with extraordinary results. This is not only a majestic work of history; it is an urgent call for our time." — Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian

"A work of stunning erudition by one of our most brilliant chroniclers of the American past. By meticulously detailing how courageous activists sparked an environmental revolution that fueled the legislative imaginations of three very different presidents, Douglas Brinkley also renders a vivid portrait of the endangered species of bipartisan cooperation in the effort to save our planet. In this magisterial account, Brinkley proves himself a man for all seasons: he springs into action and refuses to take the summer off in the desperate drive to prevent our fall into an even more destructive winter of environmental discontent." — Michael Eric Dyson, author of Entertaining Race: Performing Blackness in America 

"Beginning with The Wilderness Warrior, his sweeping book on Theodore Roosevelt and the conservation movement, Doug Brinkley has been our foremost chronicler of how presidents shape our environmental policy. In this very important and timely book, filled with fascinating historical revelations, Brinkley describes how three presidents of the Long Sixties embraced the wave of environmental concerns unleashed by Rachel Carson's great work. The sense of common stewardship provides great lessons for today's partisan and poisonous political discourse." — Walter Isaacson

"In his Silent Spring Revolution, Douglas Brinkley provides an urgently-needed history of the American environmental movement, and the prophetic and courageous men and women who led it. Their gripping story is both a warning and a promise of what might still be possible as the struggle for environmental sustainability reaches a crisis point. Every American should read it, and ponder why it is that the bipartisan gains of the recent past seem so tragically out of reach today." — Jane Mayer, Chief Washington Correspondent, The New Yorker Magazine, author of Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right

"Silent Spring Revolution is a luminous history of the environmental movement that emerged in the tumult of the 1960s. Brinkley's deft mosaic of powerful forces and powerful men puts the main spotlight on a woman, Rachel Carson. Soft-spoken but fearless, she galvanized an enduring cause by reminding us that the Earth is a natural mansion . . . our living home . . . and we abuse it at our peril."  — William Souder, author of On a Farther Shore: The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson

"If Douglas Brinkley writes it, I will read it. With Silent Spring Revolution, he hits another homerun: an irresistible tale of courage in the face of stubborn, dangerous ignorance and staggering arrogance, peppered with some of the most unforgettable names in history. I was swept up from page one." — Candice Millard

"Even as it vanishes under concrete and asphalt, wilderness keeps an emotional hold on the collective American heart. Douglas Brinkley’s rich and illuminating history of the modern environmental movement shows how tenacious dreamers battled against all odds to save some of our most treasured wild places. It is both a wonder, and a timely inspiration." — Carl Hiaasen

“In Silent Spring Revolution, Douglas Brinkley animates a vibrant history of a passionate, persevering, and spirited community of people who shared a relentless eye toward justice for all. . . . Brinkley shows us through his incomparable rigor as a historian why this era . . . has brought us to a deeper understanding of why social justice and climate justice are intrinsically tied to planetary health and survival. [This] is a courageous book about courageous people that will inspire readers to find their own brave acts on behalf of the Earth. . . . I was mesmerized." — Terry Tempest Williams, author of Refuge and Writer-in-Residence at Harvard Divinity School

"A panoramic history of environmental politics from 1960 to 1973. . . . Silent Spring Revolution also reads as a paean to the individuals, movements, and politicians who saw federal intervention as the necessary solution to address the myriad environmental crises triggered by the modern industrial system. Overall, Silent Spring Revolution is an impassioned narrative that transports readers to a different, more optimistic world of popular support for eco-awareness and collective action. It is a book that sticks with you.” — Matthew Dallek, Washington Post

“Monumental research…Historian Douglas Brinkley’s Silent Spring Revolution is so important. It’s an inspirational tone, one that shows how a few dedicated people can take the status quo and create meaningful change.” — Curt Schieier, Minneapolis Star Tribune

From the Publisher

This audiobook is a history of the environmental movement in America 1950-1973—from just before the publication of SILENT SPRING, by Rachel Carson, to just after the first Earth Day in April 1970. It also is a collective biography of influential figures in that movement, including Carson, William O. Douglas, John F. Kennedy, Coretta Scott King, and others. Stephen Graybill delivers a solid narration. His even tone carries listeners through the author’s occasionally tedious attention to detail. He sets off quoted material—mostly from publications—with slight pauses that act as oral quotation marks. The author breaks chapters into smaller parts, which also help listeners absorb the message. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2022 - AudioFile

This audiobook is a history of the environmental movement in America 1950-1973—from just before the publication of SILENT SPRING, by Rachel Carson, to just after the first Earth Day in April 1970. It also is a collective biography of influential figures in that movement, including Carson, William O. Douglas, John F. Kennedy, Coretta Scott King, and others. Stephen Graybill delivers a solid narration. His even tone carries listeners through the author’s occasionally tedious attention to detail. He sets off quoted material—mostly from publications—with slight pauses that act as oral quotation marks. The author breaks chapters into smaller parts, which also help listeners absorb the message. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

DECEMBER 2022 - AudioFile

2022-11-08
Brinkley continues his cycles of histories in which presidents engage with the environment.

The great presidential conservationist, of course, was Theodore Roosevelt, subject of Brinkley’s The Wilderness Warrior. Rightful Heritage chronicled “FDR’s enthusiasm for preserving treasured landscapes in every state.” Here, the author charts the transformation of conservation into environmentalism, a change of understanding and emphasis that, in his view, owes disproportionately to popular books by Rachel Carson. Silent Spring inspired a campaign to reduce the use of the toxic pesticides that were entering the food chain and killing birds by the millions, and Carson’s works were favorites in the Kennedy White House. As Brinkley relates, when Lyndon Johnson came into office, he took action a step further. While his disastrous policies in Vietnam dragged his Great Society program down, Johnson got some important things done, drawing on the talents of environmental researchers who “were elevated as indispensable first responders rushing to save nothing less than the future of the United States.” Considering the Great Society a “bookend” of FDR’s New Deal, Brinkley also documents the considerable resistance to these environmental reforms on the part of industry, so that, when Richard Nixon arrived in the White House, he had to balance two opposing impulses: to let business and its right-wing think tanks have their way or to push through environmental legislation. He allowed the Environmental Protection Agency to come into being while cautioning its director that environmentalists were “a bunch of commie pinko queers.” Despite his many failures, Nixon got things done, too. (Who knew that he had “a soft spot in his heart for whales”?) Still, as this readable but overlong history documents, it was Carson who merits most of the credit, along with her Kennedy/Johnson Cabinet member Stuart Udall, “the most successful interior secretary in American history.”

A solid addition to the literature at the intersection of environmentalism and politics.

Kirkus Reviews