As a native Pennsylvanian, I have long been interested in
the career of Gifford Pinchot, a Progressive stalwart, pioneering forester and great
conservationist, close friend of Theodore Roosevelt, and two-term governor of
the state. Pinchot was an
activist, and his wife, Cornelia, joined him as a women’s rights advocate and
three-time congressional candidate.
Between his nonconsecutive gubernatorial terms, Pinchot led
a family expedition first to the Caribbean and then on to the South Pacific in
1929. During the seven-month voyage
aboard the “Mary Pinchot” yacht, the family and several scientists collected
bird, fish, animal, seashells, and plant specimens. Among the explorers were the Pinchots’
thirteen-year-son, Gifford Bryce “Giff” Pinchot, and his friend Stephen “Stiff”
Stahlnecker.
In 1933 when Giff was still a teenager, he published
an account of that fascinating trip: Giff and Stiff in the South Seas. I
finally obtained a copy of the book and I’ve been enjoying reading the account
which also includes black-and-white photographs and line engravings. One reviewer compared it with Mark Twain’s
Tom Sawyer, and it is a magnificent story.
The young man developed a myriad of interests, including
sailing and conservation, and became a Ph.D.-trained scientist and professor at
Johns Hopkins. He was present in 1963 when President Kennedy dedicated his
family’s 102-acre estate in Milford, Pa., Grey Towers, as The Pinchot Institute
for Conservation Studies. Dr. Pinchot
died in 1989.
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