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The entry profiles William D. Ruckelshaus, a former administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Ruckelshaus graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and then joined his family's law firm in 1960. Ruckelshaus won election to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1967, but lost the race for U.S. Senate in 1968. He then was selected by the incoming administration of President Richard Nixon to serve as assistant U.S. attorney general. Ruckelshaus' conscientiousness led to his appointment as administrator of the newly formed EPA in December 1970. Ruckelshaus' approach gave the EPA instant credibility and created such a positive image of the agency and of Ruckelshaus that, in the middle of the Watergate scandal, he was asked to take over the beleaguered Federal Bureau of Investigation in April 1973 as acting director. When the EPA under the administration of President Ronald Reagan ran afoul of public opinion for its environmental policies in 1983, Ruckelshaus was asked to return in order to restore confidence in the agency. |
