NIXON SIGNS ECO LAW | Endangered Species Act, Dec 28

Nixon Looking on as William Ruckelshaus
becomes the first EPA Administrator, 1970.

December 28, 2019 – On this day in 1973, President Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act.

In 1970 he created the Environmental Protection Agency and put it in the capable hands of the late William Ruckelshaus.

In 1972 he sent his environmental program to Congress, developed by the new EPA. Nixon said of it:

"This is the environmental awakening. It marks a new sensitivity of the American spirit and a new maturity of American public life. It is working a revolution in values, as commitment to responsible partnership with nature replaces cavalier assumptions that we can play God with our surroundings and survive."

He asked for the new Endangered Species Act to identify and protect threatened species. It also made hunting or capturing endangered species a federal offense. In 1973, the House and Senate versions were combined, and it was passed unanimously by the Senate and in the House by a vote of 355 to 4.