James G. Watt - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Overview

James Gaius Watt served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior

United States Secretary of the Interior

The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...

for President

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....

from 1981 to 1983.
Watt was born in Lusk, Wyoming

Lusk, Wyoming

Lusk is a town in Niobrara County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 1,447 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Niobrara County. The town was laid out in June 1886 by engineers working on the Wyoming Central Railway. It was named after Frank S...

. He attended the University of Wyoming

University of Wyoming

The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...

, earning a bachelor's degree

Bachelor's degree

A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

during 1960 and a law degree during 1962. Watt's first political job was as an aide to Republican Party Senator Milward L. Simpson

Milward L. Simpson

Milward Lee Simpson was an American politician who served as a U.S. Senator and as the 23rd Governor of Wyoming.-Life and career:...

of Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

, whom he met through Simpson's son, Alan

Alan K. Simpson

Alan Kooi Simpson is an American politician who served from 1979 to 1997 as a United States Senator from Wyoming as a member of the Republican Party. His father, Milward L. Simpson, was also a member of the U.S...

.

During 1966, Watt became the secretary to the natural resources committee and environmental pollution advisory panel of the U.S.

Unanswered Questions

Whatever happened to Mr. Watt? Is he retired?

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Quotations

That is the delicate balance the Secretary of the Interior must have: to be steward for the natural resources for this generation as well as future generations. I do not know how many future generations we can count on before the Lord returns; whatever it is we have to manage with a skill to leave the resources needed for future generations.

Testimony before the House Interior Committee, February 1981

"Everything Cheney's saying, everything the president's saying - they're saying exactly what we were saying 20 years ago, precisely ... Twenty years later, it sounds like they've just dusted off the old work."

Watt praising Bush energy and environmental policies Watt Applauds Bush Energy Strategy Denver Post May 16, 2001

We have every mixture you can have. I have a black, a woman, two Jews and a cripple. And we have talent.

Speaking before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on September 21, 1983, in reference to members of the U.S. Commission on Fair Market Value Policy for Federal Coal Leasing

Liberals have shifted government into a position of being neutral between right and wrong. By concentrating power in government institutions, liberals chisel at the three pillars of society: the family unit, work ethic and faith. That's not good for America.

U.S. News and World Report, November 11, 1985

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