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Who owns America? Hickel says that Americans do, but they do not realize it. They must cultivate a feeling of ownership for every public property, whether it be a city park, the Potomac River or the Grand Tetons. The problem is the feeling that anything that belongs to everyone belongs to no one. Hickel's answer is that ultimately it is the Federal Government that has to assume the responsibility. Says Hickel: "The Federal Government has to care. It has an obligation of ownership to more than 200 million Americans. A perfect example of not owning and not caring is the whale. No one owns the ocean, so everyone goes out to exploit the whale. The same thing is true of public lands." Moreover, to feel ownership, Americans need leadership. On close inspection, his definition of leadership is not far from his description of himself. "If I have an obsession," Hickel writes, "it is always to be positive." That also might be the book's chief failing, for he skips over many of the less impressive aspects of his tenure. There is not a hint that he was a poor administrator of the sprawling, 70,000-man Interior Department.
On balance, though, Hickel was an extremely effective Interior Secretary, and certainly the first who might have earned the title of "secretary of the environment." Eventually, his freewheeling ways clashed with the more cautious decisions of the Nixon Administration. The book details the final conflicts, notably the famous letter to the President after the Cambodian invasion and subsequent campus riots, in which Hickel suggested that Nixon was too insulated. Nixon was to take this as a "mutual lack of confidence."
Since his dismissal, Hickel told TIME Correspondent Sam Iker last week, he has worked on his book and traveled around the U.S., "whittling down" 600 speaking invitations. Some of his comments:
ON NIXON. "Here's a very analytical, brilliant man. His input [meaning advice from his staff] is his output. If his input is heart, his output is heart. If it's cold, the output is cold."
ON ENVIRONMENTALISM. "It's the relationship of how a man lives to where he lives. A new deep interest is showing up in city planning, public transportation, government attitudes. It may not be as vocal as it once was, but it's still there among the young and middle-aged alike."
ON THE EPA. "In the Environmental Protection Agency, the policing function has been separated from development. If EPA had the power to make things happen, along with its policing power, it could be more effective."
ON INDUSTRY'S ROLE. "In a competitive society, the rules and regulations have to be fair to all, if they're going to work. I think industry is willing to do what has to be done, but someone has to make it happen. They have to be led."
IS HE RUNNING FOR SOMETHING? "Yeah, just to stay in shape. I'm a jogger."
AS A REPUBLICAN? "No one can take
Wally Hickel for granted."