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Edmund Muskie

Edmund Muskie
Usage Conditions Apply
Artist
Richard Avedon, 15 May 1923 - 1 Oct 2004
Sitter
Edmund Sixtus Muskie, 28 Mar 1914 - 26 Mar 1996
Date
March 1, 1976
Type
Photograph
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Image: 25.5 × 20.2 cm (10 1/16 × 7 15/16")
Sheet: 35.6 × 27.6 cm (14 × 10 7/8")
Mat: 55.8 × 40.5 cm (21 15/16 × 15 15/16")
Topic
Interior
Costume\Dress Accessory\Neckwear\Tie\Necktie
Edmund Sixtus Muskie: Male
Edmund Sixtus Muskie: Politics and Government\Presidential candidate
Edmund Sixtus Muskie: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Environmentalist
Edmund Sixtus Muskie: Politics and Government\Cabinet member\Secretary of State
Edmund Sixtus Muskie: Politics and Government\Vice-Presidential Candidate
Edmund Sixtus Muskie: Politics and Government\US Senator\Maine
Edmund Sixtus Muskie: Politics and Government\Governor\Maine
Edmund Sixtus Muskie: Politics and Government\State Legislator\Maine
Edmund Sixtus Muskie: Presidential Medal of Freedom
Portrait
Place
United States\District of Columbia\Washington
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; this acquisition was made possible by generous contributions from Jeane W. Austin and the James Smithson Society
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© The Richard Avedon Foundation
Object number
S/NPG.89.83.44
Exhibition Label
Edmund Muskie, a Democratic politician, was a longtime leader in shaping laws to protect the environment, even before the issue was a topic of widespread public concern. Growing up in Maine, Muskie witnessed firsthand the effects of water pollution on the Androscoggin River and air pollution from local papermill smokestacks. As the state’s governor (1955–59), he emphasized environmental issues and called for clean air and water legislation. Muskie represented Maine from 1959 to 1980 in the U.S. Senate, where he sponsored and helped pass landmark bipartisan environmental legislation, most notably the Clean Air Act (1970) and the Clean Water Act (1972).
At the first celebration of Earth Day on April 22, 1970, Muskie spoke to a crowd of more than 20,000 people in Philadelphia, where he called for an “Environmental Revolution” that was “one of laws, not men; one of values, not ideology; and one of achievement, not unfulfilled promises.”
El político demócrata Edmund Muskie lideró esfuerzos por crear leyes que protegieran el ambiente, incluso antes de que esto fuera una preocupación generalizada. Durante su juventud en Maine, Muskie conoció de primera mano los efectos de la contaminación, tanto en el agua del río Androscoggin como en el aire por causa de las chimeneas de la fábrica de papel local. Siendo ya gobernador del estado (1955–59), enfatizó los temas ambientales y exigió leyes de agua y aire limpios. Muskie representó a Maine de 1959 a 1980 en el Senado de EE.UU., donde auspició y gestionó la aprobación de históricas leyes ambientales bipar tidistas, sobre todo la Ley de Aire Limpio (1970) y la Ley de Agua Limpia (1972).
En la primera celebración del Día de la Tierra el 22 de abril de 1970, Muskie habló ante más de 20,000 personas en Filadelfia, exhortando a una “revolu ción ambiental [...] de leyes, no de hombres; de valores, no ideologías; y de logros, no de promesas incumplidas”.
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Exhibition
Forces of Nature: Voices that Shaped Environmentalism
On View
NPG, North Gallery 220