“One cannot be pessimistic about the West. This is the native home of hope.” – Wallace Stegner
By Marc C. Johnson
Cecil Andrus, the four-term governor of Idaho and Jimmy Carter’s accomplished Secretary of the Interior, was not a man given to deep self-reflection. He was no navel gazer, no hand wringer, not one to agonize over decisions made and moved on from.
His was a here and now approach to life and politics – ‘let’s do it’, might have been his motto. Let’s see if we can get something done was his approach to politics.
Which is not to say he wasn’t self aware. The one-time lumberjack with a year of college and who became governor at age 39 knew his heart and his head.
“Not always right, but seldom in doubt,” he would frequently say as he charged off to improve education funding or keep the Department of Energy from turning Idaho into a nuclear waste dump. But there was always a plan and typically the Andrus plan was three steps ahead of any political opponent.
Andrus was, arguably, the most accomplished political figure in the modern history of Idaho and one of the most significant Western politicians of his generation. But he had little time for the legacy business, certain that memories of politicians, even good ones, are always fleeting.
He wasn’t exactly dismissive of his extraordinary career – elected four times in three different decades, a progressive Democrat in a very conservative state, and one of the great Interior Secretaries in our history – but rather more focused on the old political question: “what have you done for me lately?”
Yet the historian in me argues that legacies matter. Preserving stories and meaning is really important.
As some today race wholesale to rewrite or obliterate much of American history it has rarely been more important to preserve history, debate it, argue over it and, yes, celebrate it. History is what we know about ourselves and it helps understand where we have been and where we might be going.
Cece Andrus died in 2017. Seems like a long, long time ago, but perhaps just the right amount of time to consider again the man and his record.
The Andrus Center at Boise State University is going to do just that over two days in early November. I suspect it will be a blast, not just from the past but a reminder of the good politics can do when practiced in the hands of decent, capable, honest people – like Cece Andrus.
Here is how the Andrus Center explains it’s event – Andrus for Idaho: History Harvest
This two-day public-facing event will explore the environmental history and conservation legacy that helped shape Idaho.
Nov. 6: Day One features authors contributing to a forthcoming project on Idaho’s environmental story and the leaders, communities, and decisions that helped define it. Listen to presentations by these authors and get a sneak peek at some of the chapters.
Nov 7: Day Two invites the public to participate in a History Harvest by sharing photographs, documents, memorabilia, oral histories, and personal stories connected to Idaho’s landscapes and communities. Storytelling is one of humans’ strongest impulses to relay history.
As the Idaho Capital Sun reported earlier this year:
“Nobody writes about Idaho except Idahoans, right?” said Emily Wakild, who holds the Cecil D. Andrus chair for Environment and Public Lands at Boise State. “And we’re getting more and more Idahoans by the day. And so thinking about who they are, how they’re changing Idaho, and what they’re encountering when they move here, is part of the driving force behind (the book.)”
“We want to share the stories of an Idaho that existed when Andrus was governor for the people that will be here in 20 years,” Wakild added.
The two day event is free (although contributions are appreciated) and even though registration isn’t required organizers hope you’ll take a moment to sign up.
Here’s a link with all the important details.
Regular readers know that the absolute highlight of my working life was the nearly nine years I spent working for Cece Andrus as press secretary and chief of staff. And I am particularly delighted to join more than a dozen other writers in contributing chapter-length essays for a book about Andrus, his environmental record and his leadership style.
On the first day of the Andrus for Idaho event some of us will be holding forth with stories and memories about what he did and how each of us were touched by the experience of being in his orbit.
I really encourage you to attend.
Share your own stories – everyone has a Cece story. Bring the photos, letters and memorabilia that can be scanned and added to the vast Andrus archive in the Boise State University library. Record an oral history.
Hope to see you in early November. Some legacies are definitely worth celebrating.
It’s difficult to be an optimist in today’s world and I’m not all that optimistic, but I do focus on realism and try to populate my writing with solid sourcing and not merely opinion. I write these pieces to offer a perspective based on history and particularly American political history since 1900.
These essays are free, but a financial contribution helps support my writing and research, including a new book in progress.
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Many thanks.
