Recalling Hickel’s Speech

I attended the speech by Interior Secretary Hickel in 1970. It took place during the Alaskan oil boom, so the students (and I) were just as concerned about Hickel’s possible ties to the oil industry, begun when he was governor of Alaska, as they were about the Vietnam War. There were numerous shouts of “What about the oil, Wally?” 

As John S. Weeren mentions in his article, Hickel was actually a proponent of responsible development of Alaskan and other U.S. resources, keeping in mind ecological and environmental impacts. I believe that is another reason that Nixon fired him, and why I think many of the student protests were unjustified.