LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 28 Washington, Lincoln, and many other great leaders will be remembered prominently as American cele- brates its 250th anniversary this summer. A Glens Falls native might very well be counted among them if not for his narrow defeat against Woodrow Wilson in the 1916 presidential election. But Charles Evans Hughes later became, quite argu- ably, the U.S. Supreme Court's greatest chief justice, highlighting a career in public service that included U.S. Secretary of State and two terms as New York gov- ernor, when he fought to protect the Adirondacks, a place he loved and returned to quite often throughout his life and career. His far-reaching contributions are captured in au- thor William Loughrey's new biography, Charles Evans Hughes: Leadership at America's Crossroads. "Hughes embodied what Americans claim we value most in our leaders – vision, energy, integrity and intel- lectual brilliance," said Loughrey, a fellow Glens Falls native and former chief of staff to U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Com- mittee. Hughes, a Republican, lost to the Democrat Wilson by 23 electoral votes, largely because of Wilson's surpris- ing victory in California, which typically backed GOP candidates at the time. With a different outcome, Hughes's Glens Falls birth- place would likely be a National Historic Site and his presidential library would be a global destination, simi- lar to FDR's home in Hyde Park. The world, too, would be much different as Hughes was decades ahead of his time promoting civil rights, in contrast to the pro-segregation Wilson. To the masses, Hughes is relatively unknown today, but his progressive reform-minded policies, pioneering regulatory systems, and battles to root out political corruption had far-reaching benefits for generations to come. "Charles Evans Hughes acted on principle and as a public official served the public good," Loughrey said. "The foundation of these moral values was the religious upbringing by his parents, his father being a Baptist minister, and the abolitionist culture in upstate New York. The frugal lifestyle during his upbringing was a major contributor to his efforts to make government lean and effective." "Upstate New York was one of the wealthiest areas in the world and was becoming the manufacturing hub for the globe," Loughrey said. "Hughes learned through his contacts as a youth and lawyer about the importance of the capitalist system." But Hughes was a conservation-minded governor (1907-10) who recognized the need to protect the Ad- irondacks' great natural resources, even though pa- per mills in and around Glens Falls were reliant on the North Country's logging industry. "Hughes envisioned a new approach in which logging companies would give up clear cutting to practice sus- tainable forestry," said Maury Thompson, co-director and co-producer of My Native Air, a Hughes documen- tary film. "The state added about 115,000 acres of land to the Adirondack Forest Preserve during the years Hughes was governor." "Reforestation was another priority," he said. "In 1908, the state's nurseries raised 1.1 million pine and spruce trees to be replanted, and the Legislature ap- propriated funds to establish additional nurseries. The first state forest rangers dedicated to the Adirondack region were also established during the Hughes ad- ministration. But Hughes had more than an academic understanding of preservation. Throughout his life he hiked, camped and vacationed in the Adirondacks." In his "Autobiographical Notes" (Harvard University Press), Hughes recalled a memorable experience on the summit of Mount Marcy, New York's highest peak, where a group of hikers joined his party and a young lady gave Hughes a bunch of huckleberries. He re- turned the favor with tea and beefsteak. The next fall (1908), while making his way to the speakers' stand at a huge Madison Square Garden cam- paign rally, a young woman thrust out her hand and gave Hughes a card. To his great surprise the message The Adirondack Statesman: Charles Evans Hughes and a Life of Service Story and Photos by Paul Post In 1962 the US Postal Ser vice issued a stamp for Hughes' 100th birthday.

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