Louis Russell Glavis (1883–1971) was an American lawyer and an employee of the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

. He was a prominent figure in the 1910

Pinchot–Ballinger controversy The Pinchot–Ballinger controversy, also known as the "Ballinger Affair", was a dispute between U.S. Forest Service Chief Gifford Pinchot and U.S. Secretary of the Interior Richard A. Ballinger that contributed to the split of the Republican P ...

; a political dispute between

President Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

's Secretary of Interior, Richard Ballinger and

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

ist

Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsy ...

over Governmental

policies.

Biography

In 1909, Glavis was an agent of the Department's

General Land Office The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department o ...

's Field Division in the northwestern United States and was based in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. He provided Pinchot with

information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...

about land deals in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

which he, Glavis, believed were illegal. Pinchot, in turn, accused Secretary Ballinger of providing Clarence Cunningham's syndicate of land claims that did not respect

Roosevelt Roosevelt may refer to: *Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th U.S. president * Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd U.S. president Businesses and organisations * Roosevelt Hotel (disambiguation) * Roosevelt & Son, a merchant bank * Rooseve ...

's conservation policies; policies Taft claimed to uphold in his administration. These accusations led to the controversy. After a Senate hearing, Ballinger was exonerated and Glavis was fired on the grounds of insubordination by President Taft who supported Ballinger's position. In 1933, Glavis was rehired by incoming Secretary of 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 ...

as Chief of the Division of Investigation. This Division was responsible for investigating charges of corruption involving all the Department's many business contracts. However, after three years, Ickes found Glavis to have a generally insubordinate nature. Glavis would conduct unauthorized surveillance of Department employees he felt were disloyal, for example. Ultimately, Glavis resigned from the Department in the summer of 1936 and was transferred to a Senate investigating committee. Later, Ickes wrote in his diary that he felt disappointed in Glavis, whom Ickes had once admired for his honesty; and that he had been unfairly unjust toward Ballinger, someone he had opposed in 1910, as he had also had to act in a similar way with Glavis.Ickes. p. 550 In the biographical supplement that came with the Ickes diaries that were published in 1953, it is mentioned that Glavis had returned to a private law practice.

References

Bibliography

*Ickes, Harold, ''The Secret Diary of Harold L. Ickes: The First Thousand Days'', New York, Simon and Schuster, 1953. *Mowry, George, ''The Era of Theodore Roosevelt'', New York, Harper & Row, 1958 SBN 06-133022-1 *Watkins, T.H., ''Righteous Pilgrim'', New York, Henry Holt and Co., 1990, (pbk.) Theodore Roosevelt administration personnel American conservationists 1971 deaths 1883 births Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel {{environmentalist-stub