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<br />~ <br /> <br />",.', 783 <br />'J l: \) <br /> <br />I <br />I <br />" <br /> <br />forth in our living room at home in Boise. He was then <br />Federal District Judge, but he had formerly served as <br />Governor of Idaho, as Mayor of Idaho Falls, and had held <br />membership in both houses of the State Legislature. As <br />well as any man, he knew that the user groups had histori- <br />cally dominated Idaho politics. <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />,< <br />, .. <br /> <br />"Tell me, Frank," he asked, "how do you expect to <br />win? All the organizations that count are against you: the <br />cattlemen, the woolgrowers, the mining association, the <br />forest products industry, the newspapers, the chambers of <br />commerce. 0 . and for what? For wilderness! You don't <br />just have rocks on your mind; you've got rocks in your <br />head!" <br /> <br />r.; <br />.. <br /> <br />". ..; <br />",\ <br /> <br />I,". 0" <br />",1'\ <br />~ ;;~, J <br />.".;"" <br />"~:" <br /> <br />Well, he hadn't exhausted the list. The doctors and <br />dentists were also against me - but that was on account of <br />Medicare. <br /> <br />.:\ <br />,I' <br /> <br />, " <br /> <br />The Judge's case was pretty persuasive that night. <br />All , could say was, "Pop, maybe "11 be lucky like Harry <br />Truman. Remember 1948? Everybody was against Harry <br />Truman, everybody but the people." <br /> <br />~ .!. <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />:... <br /> <br />The next day I won the election. A corner had been <br />turned. Despite the raging editorials, the united efforts of <br />the user groups, the scare talk, a majority of the people <br />wanted a part of our fast-vanishing wilderness saved. They <br />knew this was the right thing to do, if the good life they <br />had enjoyed was to be preserved - for themselves and <br />for their children. The campaign had been a classic case of <br />the West divided against itself, and the issue was decided <br />in accordance with the best instincts of the voters. <br /> <br />Valid as the verdict favoring wilderness was then - <br />and is now - the fears of those who opposed the Wilder- <br />ness Bill in 1962 have not proved to be unfounded. The <br /> <br />5 <br /> <br />".l'" <br />