Harold Ickes was one of the central figures of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, the combative, incorruptible Secretary of the Interior who served longer in that office than anyone in American history. Born near Altoona, Pennsylvania, he moved to Chicago as a young man, worked as a newspaper reporter, trained as a lawyer, and became a crusading progressive reformer.
A lifelong fighter against corruption and machine politics, Ickes campaigned for Roosevelt in 1932 and was rewarded with the Interior Department, which he ran from 1933 to 1946. He also headed the Public Works Administration, channeling billions of dollars into the construction of dams, bridges, roads, schools, and public buildings that helped pull the nation out of the Great Depression.
Known as "Honest Harold" and the "Old Curmudgeon," Ickes guarded the public purse with ferocious vigilance and a famously sharp tongue, feuding with rivals inside and outside the administration. He was also a notable conservationist who expanded the national parks and a rare voice of his era against racial discrimination, working to open opportunities for Black Americans.
He championed civil liberties and the rights of Native Americans, and pressed for early action against the threat of fascism abroad. Ickes finally resigned in 1946, under President Truman, over a matter of principle, and died in 1952, remembered as one of the most effective and honest public servants of his time.