Stewart Udall
| Stewart Udall | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 37th United States Secretary of the Interior | |
|
In office January 21, 1961 – January 20, 1969 |
|
| President |
John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Preceded by | Fred Andrew Seaton |
| Succeeded by | Wally Hickel |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona's 2nd district |
|
|
In office January 3, 1955 – January 21, 1961 |
|
| Preceded by | Harold Patten |
| Succeeded by | Mo Udall |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Stewart Lee Udall January 31, 1920 St. Johns, Arizona |
| Died | March 20, 2010 (aged 90) Santa Fe, New Mexico |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Ermalee Webb Udall |
| Children |
|
| Alma mater | University of Arizona |
| Religion | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch |
 United States Army
|
| Unit | United States Army Air Corps Fifteenth Air Force |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Stewart Lee Udall (January 31, 1920 – March 20, 2010) was an American politician and later, a federal government official. After serving three terms as a congressman from Arizona, he served as Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969, under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.
Born January 31, 1920, in Saint Johns, Arizona, to Louisa Lee Udall (1893–1974) and Levi Stewart Udall (1891–1960). He had five siblings: Inez, Elma, Morris (Mo), Eloise, and David Burr. As a young boy Stewart worked on the family farm in St. Johns. Stewart was remembered by his mother as a child with tremendous energy and an unquenchable curiosity.
Stewart Udall attended the University of Arizona for two years until World War II. He served four years in the Air Force as an enlisted gunner on a B-24 Liberator, flying fifty missions over Western Europe from Italy with the 736th Bomb Squadron, 454th Bomb Group, for which he received the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters. He returned to the University of Arizona in 1946, where he attended law school and played guard on a championship basketball team. In 1947, Udall, along with his brother Mo, helped integrate the University of Arizona cafeteria. Mo and Stewart were respected student athletes and Mo was student body president. On their way to lunch at the Student Union one day, they saw a group of black students eating lunch outside the building. Black students were allowed to buy food in the cafeteria, but had to eat outside. When Mo and Stewart invited Morgan Maxwell Jr., a black freshman, to share their table in the cafeteria, it helped to calm some long-simmering racial issues surrounding segregation at the university.
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