Arno Berthold Cammerer (July 31, 1883 – April 30, 1941) was the third director of the U.S.

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

Early life

Cammerer was born in

Arapahoe, Nebraska Arapahoe is a city in Furnas County, in the southern part of the state of Nebraska in the Midwestern United States. The population of the rural town was 1,026 at the 2010 census. Geography Arapahoe is located at (40.303959, -99.899839). Accord ...

, in 1883. He was the son of a Lutheran pastor and his wife.National Park Service: Biography (Arno B. Cammerer)
". NPS. Retrieved on June 14, 2010. He moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1904 to work as a civil service bookkeeper, and earned a Bachelor of Law degree at

Georgetown Law School The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

in 1911.

Career

Cammerer was working as the Executive Secretary of the Fine Arts Commission in Washington, DC, which reviewed agency projects in the capital against design guidelines and aesthetic issues. The U.S. National Park Service's first director,

Stephen Mather Stephen Tyng Mather (July 4, 1867 – January 22, 1930) was an American industrialist and conservationist who was the first director of the National Park Service. As president and owner of Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company he became a million ...

, had encountered Cammerer at the commission and recognized his competence as executive secretary. He appointed Cammerer as assistant director in 1919, replacing previous assistant director

Horace M. Albright Horace Marden Albright (January 6, 1890 – March 28, 1987) was an American conservation movement, conservationist. Horace Albright was born in 1890 in Bishop, California, the son of George Albright, a miner. He graduated from the University of ...

, who then became Director. Cammerer served as Mather's right-hand man in Washington and acted for him in his frequent absences over the next decade. After the project to found

Great Smoky Mountains National Park Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an American national park in the southeastern United States, with parts in North Carolina and Tennessee. The park straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, w ...

proved expensive, Cammerer secured a promise from

John D. Rockefeller Jr. John Davison Rockefeller Jr. (January 29, 1874 – May 11, 1960) was an American financier and philanthropist, and the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in M ...

, to match $5 million in the acquisition of

Shenandoah National Park Shenandoah National Park (often ) is an American national park that encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The park is long and narrow, with the Shenandoah River and its broad valley to the west, and the ...

lands. He advanced to the new rank of associate director on January 12, 1929.

Directorship of the U.S. National Park Service

Cammerer succeeded Albright as director on August 10, 1933, the same day as the transfer to the National Park Service of the national capitol parks, historic sites, memorials, and monuments from the War and Agriculture departments. Under his leadership, the NPS tripled the number of areas served, increased visitations from two to 16 million, became involved with recreational area planning and management, began to survey and record historic sites and buildings outside the existing parks, and worked with Congress to pass the

Historic Sites Act The Historic Sites Act of 1935 was enacted by the United States Congress largely to organize the myriad federally own parks, monuments, and historic sites under the National Park Service and the United States Secretary of the Interior. However, it ...

, as well as a law establishing the

National Park Foundation The National Park Foundation (NPF) is the official charity of the National Park Service (NPS) and its national park sites. The NPF was chartered by Congress in 1967 with a charge to "further the conservation of natural, scenic, historic, scientif ...

. In 1938, Cammerer received the Pugsley Gold Medal.Newton Drury
". Pugsley Award website. Retrieved on June 14, 2010. The Pugsley Award recognizes outstanding contributions to the promotion and development of public parks in the United States and is given out by the American Academy of Park and Recreation Administrators along with the National Park Foundation. Strained relations with Secretary of the Interior

Harold L. Ickes Harold LeClair Ickes ( ; March 15, 1874 – February 3, 1952) was an American administrator, politician and lawyer. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for nearly 13 years from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold th ...

impaired Cammerer's effectiveness and health; he stepped down in 1940 following a heart attack the previous year. He became the service's eastern regional director.

Death and legacy

After suffering another heart attack, Cammerer died on April 30, 1941. The official NPS biography says that "Cammerer's contributions to the National Park Service were legion." Mount Cammerer, on the Northeastern fringe of the

Great Smoky Mountains The Great Smoky Mountains (, ''Equa Dutsusdu Dodalv'') are a mountain range rising along the Tennessee–North Carolina border in the southeastern United States. They are a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains, and form part of the Blue Ridge ...

is named for Cammerer, as he had played a prominent role in the acquisition of the park.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cammerer, Arno B. 1883 births 1941 deaths People from Furnas County, Nebraska Georgetown University Law Center alumni Directors of the National Park Service