… That one-time Lincoln residents Bernard and Avis DeVoto incurred the wrath of Edgar Hoover and were investigated by the FBI?
Bernard DeVoto at his desk in the 1950s
Bernard and Avis DeVoto were passionate in their advocacy to preserve our western landscapes and our National Parks. Bernard was a Pulitzer Prize winning author of books about westward expansion, and he uncovered a “plot” by Nevada Senator Patrick McCarran and rich cattlemen to undo the protections on federal western lands.
DeVoto devoted the rest of his life to a campaign against McCarran’s efforts. It was that campaign that led the FBI to open a file on him, in which he was noted as an “intellectual revolutionary” and “known to have associations with questionable or subversive groups.” DeVoto was even targeted by the infamous Senator Joe McCarthy, an ally of McCarran.
Despite this intense pressure, DeVoto was able to enlist his influential friends to join him in his conservation efforts—Ansel Adams and Wallace Stegner among them. And they prevailed. Stegner later wrote a biography of DeVoto, who he described as "flawed, brilliant, provocative, outrageous, ... often wrong, often spectacularly right, always stimulating, sometimes infuriating, and never, never dull."
DeVoto was honored in his home state of Utah for defending public lands.
To get their full story, watch the video below of the lecture on Avis and Bernard DeVoto and their history as eco-warriors.
It was presented at Bemis Hall on October 5, 2023, with Nate Schweber, author of This America of Ours, and sponsored by the Bemis Free Lecture Series, the Friends of Minute Man National Park, the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, the Lincoln Historical Society, and the Walden Woods Project.
Lincoln Historical Society
October 5, 2023
Watch Nate Schweber’s lecture about Bernard and Avis DeVoto here:
(You may need to be a little patient with the beginning of this video, as there was some sound distortion, but the storytelling really picks up, and you’ll be rewarded with a fascinating tale if you stick with it!)
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