Harrison Loesch

Harrison Loesch (March 10th, 1916–November 11th, 1997) was a Colorado attorney who became Assistant Secretary of Interior under Richard Nixon. He served in that position from 1969 to 1973. He was responsible for major changes in the Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the Division of Territories and Island Possessions, all of which reported directly to him.

Loesch was born in Chicago on March 10, 1916. He was the son of Joseph B. Loesch and Constance Harrison Loesch and grandson of prominent Chicago attorney Frank J. Loesch. He was raised in Montrose, Colorado where his parents owned a ranch. He received a B.A. from Colorado College in 1936 and his LL.B. from Yale Law School in 1939. Loesch returned from Yale to practice law in Montrose in 1939, at the firm of Moynihan, Hughes & Knous. He married his wife Louise Mills in 1940. He volunteered and served in World War II with the United States Army Air Forces. He served in North Africa, then participated in the invasions of Sicily and Italy, and finally in the Normandy Landings, rising from private to the wartime temporary rank of colonel and permanent rank of major. After he returned to Montrose, he became a partner at the firm of Strang, Loesch & Kreidler. He then founded his own firm, Loesch, Kreidler & Durham. In 1961 Loesch was elected president of the Colorado Bar Association. His practice was broadly general, but with considerable specialization in resource matters. His clients included numerous mining, electric, and other resource-oriented companies, as well as farmers, ranchers and other individuals and companies.

In March 1969, Loesch was nominated by Richard Nixon for the position of Assistant Secretary of Interior for Public Land Management and confirmed by the Senate. In spite of the title, Loesch's departments included the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Division of Territories and Island Possessions, as well as the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service. He served under Secretary of the Interior Wally Hickel until November 1970, then under Rogers Morton.

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