2 ms·

It was Teddy. Via executive orders. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-theodore-roosevelts-executive-orders-reshaped-countryand-presidency-180962908/ h

• bombcar 3y ago
  He came way later - it began much earlier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_National_Park_Service https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_National_Park_S... You have to look at the history of each individual park, some started out as government land and remained such, others were private resort islands, etc.
  • 1970-01-01 3y ago
    I suppose it comes down to your definition of kicked off. There were only a few lands protected as national parks before Teddy arrived and protected more land than any other individual has ever done.
• jameshart 3y ago
  But often with the support or lobbying of private interests. Generous souls like Lorrin A. Thurston of Hawaii, who would like you to remember him as the newspaper publishing philanthropist who used his wealth to promote his interest in volcanology and persuade Roosevelt to create the Volcanoes National Park. Which is true - in 1916, the park was established by Woodrow Wilson (helped by Teddy’s endorsement). But the same kind of private interest taking an interest in the affairs of state has its dark side too: Thurston also was the author of the “bayonet constitution” which undermined the Kingdom of Hawaii's sovereignty, and formed the ‘committee of safety’ which enlisted the US Marines in a coup that overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani, and installed Sanford Dole (the fruit guy) as and President, and ultimately brought about the annexation of Hawaii.