Morris King Udall (June 15, 1922 – December 12, 1998) was an American attorney and politician who served as a U.S. representative from Arizona from 1961 to 1991. As a member of the Democratic Party, he was a leading contender for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination, but ultimately lost to eventual president Jimmy Carter. Udall was noted by many for his independent and liberal views."Biographical Information," on the Morris K. Udall website section – MS 325 – of the University of Arizona Library Manuscript Collection, retrieved July 23, 2018Perry, James M., reporter, National Observer, "This Fella from Arizona", in Audubon, November 1981, pp. 64–73, National Audubon Society, as reproduced on the Morris K. Udall website section – MS 325 – of the University of Arizona Library Manuscript Collection, retrieved July 23, 2018Severo, Richard, "Morris K_ Udall, Fiercely Liberal Congressman, Dies at 76," December 14, 1998, New York Times, retrieved July 23, 2018Pearson, Richard, "Environmental Leader Rep. Mo Udall Dies," December 14, 1998, Washington Post, retrieved July 23, 2018
In 1961, Udall won a special election to succeed his brother, Stewart Udall, as the congressman for Arizona's 2nd congressional district. In Congress, Udall became a prominent and popular figure for his independent ways, his leading role in the conservation and environmental protection movements, his key role in reforming Congress and political campaigns, and his pioneering role in opposing the Vietnam War.Latham, Aaron, "Will Rogers is Running for President," December 1974, New York Magazine, as reproduced on the Morris K. Udall website section – MS 325 – of the University of Arizona Library Manuscript Collection, retrieved July 23, 2018
Udall sought the Democratic Party nomination in the 1976 presidential election, but was defeated by Carter. He supported Ted Kennedy's strong challenge to Carter in the 1980 Democratic primary, and delivered the keynote address at the 1980 Democratic National Convention.
Udall served as chairman of the House Interior Committee from 1977 to 1991. Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 1980, he resigned from Congress in 1991 as the effects of the disease worsened. He died in 1998. His son, Mark Udall, represented Colorado in the United States Senate from 2009 to 2015, and his nephew Tom Udall served as a United States Senator from New Mexico from 2009 to 2021. Both also served multiple terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Early life and education Udall was born in 1922 in St. Johns, Arizona, one of six children (New York Times says three sons, two daughters) of Louisa (née Lee) and Levi Stewart Udall. His father was a lawyer who served as Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court from 1946 to 1960. His mother was a writer keenly interested in Indian life and culture. His father preached the importance of responsible people entering public service. Udall and his siblings attended local schools in St. Johns.
At age six in 1928, his right eye was cut by a friend's pocket knife while the friend and he were trying to cut some string; he lost the eye because his family lacked the money to get him prompt treatment. Udall wore a glass eye for the rest of his life, and he later indicated that the loss of his eye influenced both his personality and his politics.
He described his early rural/small-town life in the desert as harsh and primitive, in a town where "everybody worked." Noting they had "no tractors," he added, "we had horses and plows."
While in high school, despite the lost eye, Udall was a star athlete in basketball, and in football as quarterback leading an undefeated team. He also marched in the school band, wrote a political column for the school paper, and took the lead in the school play.
Military service Udall attempted to enlist in the Army Air Forces during World War II, and almost succeeded by covering his glass eye each time he was told to alternate during the eye exam. After he was medically cleared, another potential enlistee complained that he had been medically rejected for flat feet, while Udall had passed with one eye. The examiners retested Udall under closer scrutiny, and he was rejected. Later, medical standards changed and Udall served in the Army. He joined the Army Air Forces as a private in 1942 and later received his commission as an officer. He commanded an all-black squadron for two years in Louisiana, an experience of which Udall later said, "That really shaped my life," because he had "fought their fights with them... over local discrimination." Udall later served in the South Pacific and achieved the rank of captain before being discharged in 1946.
Higher education and basketball career After the war, Udall completed his bachelor's degree at the University of Arizona, where he was a star basketball player (team co-captain), President of the Associated Student Government, and a member of Sigma Chi fraternity.
For one year following graduation, Udall played professional basketball with the Denver Nuggets during the 1948–49 National Basketball League season. At the same time, he attended the University of Denver College of Law. He completed his studies at the University of Arizona's law school, where he graduated in 1949 with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree.
Career statistics
NBL Source
Regular season
| style="text-align:left;"| 1948–49 | style="text-align:left;"| Denver | 57 || 125 || 121 || 171 || .708 || 371 || 6.5
Personality and philosophy Udall was a tall (6'5"), Lincolnesque figure with a self-deprecating wit and easy manner. Because of his wit, columnist James J. Kilpatrick deemed him "too funny to be president", which also ended up being the title of his autobiography in the 1980s.
He once said that his physical stature and one eye kept him from ever having a date in high school, and led to his use of self-deprecating humor to survive.
Known for his humor, his irreverent and casual style (particularly his colorful western wear and cowboy boots), and his ethics, Udall was summarized by leading political journalist James M. Perry as "funny, smart, down-to-earth, honest, sassy, patient."
Despite being raised Mormon, his spiritual views changed during his later years. He ceased being active in church by the time he returned from military service. While in college, as he read philosophy and history, Udall abandoned his Mormon faith. In particular, he rejected the cultural view among some Church members of the time that black people were "cursed."
Early career In 1949 Udall, with his brother, Stewart, started the law firm of Udall & Udall in Tucson, Arizona, practicing law in Tucson until 1961.
Udall was elected as the Pima County chief deputy attorney (1950–1952) and county attorney (1953–1954). In 1954, he failed in a bid to be nominated for a Superior Court judgeship.
He taught labor law at the University of Arizona law school (1955, 1956). In 1961 he became vice-president of the Arizona Bar Association. Udall co-founded the Bank of Tucson, and the Catalina Savings and Loan Association, and in 1960 became president of Tucson's YMCA.
Political career Throughout his early life, Udall dreamed of public office, but—under pressure from his wife—deferred a congressional race opportunity to his older brother, Stewart Udall. The latter won seat in 1954. The younger Udall's hopes for a seat on the Arizona Supreme Court (where their father had served) were dashed when the seat went to his ultra-conservative uncle, Jesse Addison Udall, instead.
Congressman
In 1961, his brother was appointed as Secretary of the Interior in the John F. Kennedy administration. Mo then won a special election for his brother's vacant seat by 2,000 votes, with 51% of the vote. He won the seat in his own right in 1962, and was reelected 13 more times. He faced only one other close race, in 1978, when he received 52 percent of the vote. He held the post until his resignation May 4, 1991.
For his first term, Udall represented the entire state outside of Maricopa County. After the 1960s round of redistricting, his district was reduced to the southern portion of the state, centered on Tucson. After a mid-decade redistricting ordered as a result of Wesberry v. Sanders, his district absorbed some outer portions of the Phoenix area.
From 1977 until his retirement in 1991, Udall chaired the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs (on which he'd served since 1963). He also served as ranking member of the Committee of the Post Office and Civil Service, chairman of the Office of Technology Assessment and was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
Vietnam War Udall first gained national political notice for a speech October 23, 1967, in Tucson at a major regional civic meeting, with an audience of 2,800—largely civic leaders, mostly supportive of President Johnson's policy on the Vietnam War. Despite their leanings, Udall gave a firm and direct speech calling the nation's involvement in Vietnam "a mistaken and dangerous road." He called for reversing American escalation of the war, and eventual U.S. withdrawal—the first major figure in the U.S. Democratic Party to openly oppose the Democratic president on the war. The speech drew a standing ovation, and reverberated nationwide, drawing national media and political attention, and initiating the Democratic Party's gradual split over the war.
Labor legislation On labor legislation, however, Udall was less liberal. Though he opposed right-to-work laws that undermined labor unions, his constituents very strongly supported them, so Udall did, too—particularly in a 1965 congressional vote that labor leaders held against him for years.
Conservation and the environment On conservation and environmental protection, Udall's record was mixed—and extreme in both directions—though he is largely credited with being generally a defender of those causes (he first joined the House Interior committee in 1961), particularly as chairman of the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. He fought for environmental protection, and expansion of the National Park System, ushered legislation through Congress absorbing 8 million acres into the federal wilderness system across 20 states, and attempted to restructure the energy industry.
An important exception was his defense of planned dam-and-reservoir projects in Arizona that threatened to inundate key wilderness areas, including a hydroelectric dam that threatened to flood some of the Grand Canyon. Hostile campaigning by the nation's leading conservation organization, the Sierra Club, led to Udall's bitter fight with them, and the eventual loss of their tax-exempt status, which some have blamed on Udall's complaints about them to the Internal Revenue Service. The projects were eventually abandoned, replaced with coal-fired powerplants that Udall thought more polluting than the dams would have been.
However, in the opposite extreme, Udall's "proudest achievement" was passage of an Alaska lands bill, permanently preserving 104.3 million acres of wilderness, over the opposition of many in Alaska and in the natural resource industries.
In 1973, Udall was named "Legislator of the Year" by the National Wildlife Federation.
However, in 1974, his Land Use Bill was defeated—some environmentalists blaming Udall's inability to work the bill effectively on the floor of the House.