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Do IT this week: Layering
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 01:42 p.m. EDT, Oct 21, 2009
Fourteen months after his death, U.S. Rep. John F. Seiberling will share the spotlight Thursday night with history professor Daniel Nelson of Bath Township and his new book at a reception in Washington, D.C.
Nelson, an emeritus professor of history at the University of Akron, has penned A Passion for the Land: John F. Seiberling and the Environmental Movement (Kent State University Press, $39.95).
The two men — friends though the Akron-area Sierra Club for nearly 40 years — will be feted by up to 150 people, including a dozen members of Congress, at an invitation-only party at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.
What is on tap is not your usual Capitol Hill reception.
It promises to be a Seiberling love fest as former staffers and longtime friends recall the man many consider an American conservation hero.
Many people who worked in Washington remember Seiberling, who served in Congress from the old Akron-area 14th District from 1971 to 1986, with fondness said former staffer Loretta Neumann, who organized the reception and played a key role in Nelson's book.
But many were unable to attend the Seiberling memorial service held at a Bath Township church Sept. 27, 2008, she said. He had died Aug. 2, 2008, at the age of 89 at his Copley Township home.
Thursday's event ''will be an opportunity for people here in Washington to pay tribute and homage to John,'' she said.
Among those who have said they will attend are U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Mark Udall, D-Colo., whose father, Morris Udall, worked with Seiberling in Congress to preserve American wilderness in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Also, U.S. Reps. Betty Sutton, D-Copley Township; Tim Ryan, D-Niles; Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo; Niki Tsongas, D-Mass.; Nick Rahall, D-W.Va.; David Obey, D-Wis.; George Miller, D-Calif.; and former U.S. Rep. Anthony Beilenson, D-Calif.
Also on the guest list is U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, but a staffer said he will be in Anchorage for an engagement.
Young and Seiberling waged fierce public battles over Alaskan wilderness but remained friends behind the headlines, both Neumann and Nelson said.
Udall wrote the book's foreward, and Ryan penned a back cover comment that Nelson's book ''gives John his proper place in American history.''
The three Seiberling sons — David of Akron, John B. of Washington, D.C., and Stephen of Chapel Hill, N.C. — are expected to attend. A greeting from Seiberling's widow, Betty, will be read at the party.
There is a large core of politically active people in Washington that worked with Seiberling and remember him fondly, Nelson said.
''There's a lot of affection for him as a politician known for being honest and upright,'' he said. ''That's what will make the reception different.''
Yes, there will be wine and cheese and other food fare like most Capitol Hill parties. But there will be more, Neumann said.
There will be a photographic display on Seiberling, his life and his contributions, as well as a DVD tribute.
Even the music, provided by the Potomac Trio, will be Seiberling-themed. The trio has promised to play Seiberling favorites from Mozart to Carole King, Neumann said.
The reception also will enable Nelson ''to sell a few more books,'' she said.
The book is not the definitive, tell-everything Seiberling biography but it is a look at his activities and accomplishments dealing with land conservation, federal wilderness designations and park development, Nelson said.
That includes Seiberling's key role in creating Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area — now Cuyahoga Valley National Park — on 33,000 acres between Akron and Cleveland in 1974.
Seiberling played a key role in preserving 69 million acres of wilderness — 54 million acres in Alaska — in addition to 59 million acres of other federal parks, forests and preserves around the country.
Nelson got involved in the Seiberling book project in 2006, although Neumann was involved in preliminary research starting in 1997, backed by a grant from the Cleveland-based Gund Foundation.
Neumann interviewed key Seiberling staffers and members of national land conservation groups about what Seiberling and others in Congress accomplished in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the idea of writing the Seiberling biography.
The book she envisioned stalled, however, after she went back to government work.
''I thought I'd go back to it after I retired. . . . But when I retired, my heart was no longer in it the same way,' she said.
At one point, there was a plan to combine Neumann's interviews with essays Seiberling had written. The University of Akron Press, which was then handling the project, rejected that proposal.
''It was time to turn it over to someone else,'' she said.
Nelson was the answer,and Neumann gave him her materials.
He has authored eight books,including the American Rubber Workers & Organized Labor 1900-1941 and Northern Landscapes: the Struggle for Wilderness Alaska, a battle that deeply involved Seiberling.
Researching and writing the book were not that difficult, Nelson said. He paid visits to the University of Akron Archives, where 650 cubic feet of Seiberling papers are stored. He also visited the Denver Public Library with its 29 linear feet of Seiberling papers, plus the archives of the Sierra Club in Berkeley, Calif., the Wilderness Society in Denver and the National Archives in Washington.
Neumann introduced Nelson to others in Washington who had worked with Seiberling.
He based the book largely on unpublished correspondence and finished the 263-page book in 2007.
Seiberling might be better known out West for his role in expanding federal lands than he is in Northeast Ohio, said the 68-year-old Nelson.
The fact that voters in the Akron area were not overly concerned about western lands allowed Seiberling to follow his own convictions, he said.
Seiberling was 'the right person in the right place at the right time and was extremely effective,'' Nelson said. ''John was really a key figure in what happened in Congress, if not the key figure, in the expansion of national parks and federal wilderness areas.''
Neumann is thrilled by what Nelson has penned.
''It's perfect,'' she said. ''He did a beautiful job. He was very attentive to details. It doesn't cover everything, but it's an accurate history of John and the conservation efforts in Congress. . . . And telling that story is important.''
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Fourteen months after his death, U.S. Rep. John F. Seiberling will share the spotlight Thursday night with history professor Daniel Nelson of Bath Township and his new book at a reception in Washington, D.C.
Nelson, an emeritus professor of history at the University of Akron, has penned A Passion for the Land: John F. Seiberling and the Environmental Movement (Kent State University Press, $39.95).
The two men — friends though the Akron-area Sierra Club for nearly 40 years — will be feted by up to 150 people, including a dozen members of Congress, at an invitation-only party at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.
What is on tap is not your usual Capitol Hill reception.
It promises to be a Seiberling love fest as former staffers and longtime friends recall the man many consider an American conservation hero.
Many people who worked in Washington remember Seiberling, who served in Congress from the old Akron-area 14th District from 1971 to 1986, with fondness said former staffer Loretta Neumann, who organized the reception and played a key role in Nelson's book.
But many were unable to attend the Seiberling memorial service held at a Bath Township church Sept. 27, 2008, she said. He had died Aug. 2, 2008, at the age of 89 at his Copley Township home.
Thursday's event ''will be an opportunity for people here in Washington to pay tribute and homage to John,'' she said.
Among those who have said they will attend are U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Mark Udall, D-Colo., whose father, Morris Udall, worked with Seiberling in Congress to preserve American wilderness in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Also, U.S. Reps. Betty Sutton, D-Copley Township; Tim Ryan, D-Niles; Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo; Niki Tsongas, D-Mass.; Nick Rahall, D-W.Va.; David Obey, D-Wis.; George Miller, D-Calif.; and former U.S. Rep. Anthony Beilenson, D-Calif.
Also on the guest list is U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, but a staffer said he will be in Anchorage for an engagement.
Young and Seiberling waged fierce public battles over Alaskan wilderness but remained friends behind the headlines, both Neumann and Nelson said.
Udall wrote the book's foreward, and Ryan penned a back cover comment that Nelson's book ''gives John his proper place in American history.''
The three Seiberling sons — David of Akron, John B. of Washington, D.C., and Stephen of Chapel Hill, N.C. — are expected to attend. A greeting from Seiberling's widow, Betty, will be read at the party.
There is a large core of politically active people in Washington that worked with Seiberling and remember him fondly, Nelson said.
''There's a lot of affection for him as a politician known for being honest and upright,'' he said. ''That's what will make the reception different.''
Yes, there will be wine and cheese and other food fare like most Capitol Hill parties. But there will be more, Neumann said.
There will be a photographic display on Seiberling, his life and his contributions, as well as a DVD tribute.
Even the music, provided by the Potomac Trio, will be Seiberling-themed. The trio has promised to play Seiberling favorites from Mozart to Carole King, Neumann said.
The reception also will enable Nelson ''to sell a few more books,'' she said.
The book is not the definitive, tell-everything Seiberling biography but it is a look at his activities and accomplishments dealing with land conservation, federal wilderness designations and park development, Nelson said.
That includes Seiberling's key role in creating Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area — now Cuyahoga Valley National Park — on 33,000 acres between Akron and Cleveland in 1974.
Seiberling played a key role in preserving 69 million acres of wilderness — 54 million acres in Alaska — in addition to 59 million acres of other federal parks, forests and preserves around the country.
Nelson got involved in the Seiberling book project in 2006, although Neumann was involved in preliminary research starting in 1997, backed by a grant from the Cleveland-based Gund Foundation.
Neumann interviewed key Seiberling staffers and members of national land conservation groups about what Seiberling and others in Congress accomplished in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the idea of writing the Seiberling biography.
The book she envisioned stalled, however, after she went back to government work.
''I thought I'd go back to it after I retired. . . . But when I retired, my heart was no longer in it the same way,' she said.
At one point, there was a plan to combine Neumann's interviews with essays Seiberling had written. The University of Akron Press, which was then handling the project, rejected that proposal.
''It was time to turn it over to someone else,'' she said.
Nelson was the answer,and Neumann gave him her materials.
He has authored eight books,including the American Rubber Workers & Organized Labor 1900-1941 and Northern Landscapes: the Struggle for Wilderness Alaska, a battle that deeply involved Seiberling.
Researching and writing the book were not that difficult, Nelson said. He paid visits to the University of Akron Archives, where 650 cubic feet of Seiberling papers are stored. He also visited the Denver Public Library with its 29 linear feet of Seiberling papers, plus the archives of the Sierra Club in Berkeley, Calif., the Wilderness Society in Denver and the National Archives in Washington.
Neumann introduced Nelson to others in Washington who had worked with Seiberling.
He based the book largely on unpublished correspondence and finished the 263-page book in 2007.
Seiberling might be better known out West for his role in expanding federal lands than he is in Northeast Ohio, said the 68-year-old Nelson.
The fact that voters in the Akron area were not overly concerned about western lands allowed Seiberling to follow his own convictions, he said.
Seiberling was 'the right person in the right place at the right time and was extremely effective,'' Nelson said. ''John was really a key figure in what happened in Congress, if not the key figure, in the expansion of national parks and federal wilderness areas.''
Neumann is thrilled by what Nelson has penned.
''It's perfect,'' she said. ''He did a beautiful job. He was very attentive to details. It doesn't cover everything, but it's an accurate history of John and the conservation efforts in Congress. . . . And telling that story is important.''
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Akron, Oh
Posted 02:02 PM, 10/21/2009
Them Democritters are honoring this man? What will they think of next. Prolly his fault we haven't "drilled baby drilled" in Alaska yet. Darn tree huggin kook.
Right my conservative Republican brethren? This is an outrage!
We ought to put Glen Beck in charge of the interior. Gas would be 4 cents a gallon. Of course you would not be able to drive 100 feet without hitting an oil derrick but that's not the point lets stay focused.
Kandi, SL
Posted 03:02 PM, 10/21/2009
One of the truly great Americans who we can say with pride came out of Akron. Look forward to reading this edition. Someone should make a film documentary on the man who helped preserve more land than any member of Congress.
akron, oh
Posted 03:36 PM, 10/21/2009
Im amused that this man is best known for his preserving park lands. It was in these same parks that his son was busted for growing pot.
Akron, OH
Posted 05:13 PM, 10/21/2009
@ Reality
...makes sense...you would listen to Glen Beck
Akron, OH
Posted 10:45 PM, 10/21/2009
I remember when John came to a ward meeting and confused my mother and me as husband and wife. My mother loved it. Me--not so much.
He could also not resist being honest. I remember his answer to my private question about why he supported Hubert Humphrey over George McGovern, even though in my analysis he was more of a McGovern guy. I was disappointed that he wasn't on board with me, but I was never disappointed in John Seiberling. Sawyer and Ryan were--and are--disappointing.
Grand Junction, CO
Posted 11:37 PM, 10/21/2009
If you want to know how important Seiberling was to the environmental movement, read John McPhee's "Coming Into the Country." He was a tough and nimble strategist who fought to keep wilderness open to all Americans. I bumped into him and his wife a few years before he died. They were hiking one sunny autumn afternoon on the Pine Lane Trail in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. He smiled like a kid in a candy store at the beauty around him.
Akron, OH
Posted 12:13 AM, 10/22/2009
Congrats Dr. Nelson! Anyone interested in the history of when this area made things should really check out his body of work.
Akron, Oh
Posted 12:28 PM, 10/22/2009
sarcasm....google it.
