Ding: the Life of Jay Norwood Darling David Leonard Lendt Iowa State University
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Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1978 Ding: the life of Jay Norwood Darling David Leonard Lendt Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Higher Education and Teaching Commons Recommended Citation Lendt, David Leonard, "Ding: the life of Jay Norwood Darling" (1978). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 6464. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/6464 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. 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University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA St. John's Road. Tyler's Green High Wycombe. Bucks, England HP1G 8HR 7813237 LENDT, DAVID LEONARD DING; THE LIFE OF JAy nORwOQD DARLING, IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY, PH.D., 1976 Uniiiversiw Micrdnlms IntematicxTa] se»n zeebroad, amw arbor, mi«sioe ©1978 DAVID LEONARD LENDT All Rights Reserved Ding: The Life of Jay Norwood Darling by David Leonard Lendt A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department: Professional Studies Major: Education (Higher Education) Approved: Signature was redacted for privacy. In Charge of Major Work Signature was redacted for privacy. the Major Department Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Graduate College Iowa State University Of Science and Technology Ames, Iowa 1978 Copyright © David Leonard Lendt, 1978. All rights reserved. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page FOREWORD iv CHAPTER I. WITNESS TO WASTE 1 CHAPTER II. LAMP OF LEARNING 18 CHAPTER III. A CRITICAL SHIFT 28 CHAPTER IV. A RISING STAR 40 CHAPTER V. HARD TIÎ-IES 48 CHAPTER VI. TWO HOMECOMINGS 5 8 CHAPTER VII. GOOD TIMES 70 CHAPTER VIII. TASTE OF DOOM 82 CHAPTER IX. POLITICAL POSSIBILITIES 94 CHAPTER X. RUSSIA, RELATIVES AND RESOURCES 10 8 CHAPTER XI. CARTOONS TO CONSERVATION 124 CHAPTER XII. THE CHIEF 136 CHAPTER XIII. TRAIN ON THE TRACKS 154 CHAPTER XIV. BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD 175 CHAPTER XV. "THE BABY IS YOURS" 189 CHAPTER XVI. CLOUDS OF WAR 205 CHAPTER XVII- DOWNS AND UPS 225 CHAPTER XVIII. HOMOGENIZED CONSERVATION 245 CHAPTER XIX. LOSING GROUND 268 CHAPTER XX. FIGHT TO THE FINISH 295 CHAPTER XXI. 'BYE NOW—IT'S BEEN WONDERFUL 323 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 339 iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. J. N. Ding Frontispiece 2. 'Bye Now—It's Been Wonderful Knowing You 338 iv FOREWORD Most members of the human family are at once so cortçilex and so commonplace that a book-length biography of any one of them would be so detailed and dull that the author would likely be its only reader. I never met Jay Norwood Darling. Several of the thou sands who met and knew him warned me that putting Ding between the covers of a book would be a nearly insurmountable chal lenge. I freely admit to them that Jay Darling is not cap tured within the following pages. The difficult writing decisions had nothing to do with what to include, but what to leave out. And what was omitted could, under skillful editorial hands, be fashioned into several thematic tomes. Jay Darling lived fully and well. He tasted the juices of sports and politics, of fame and despair, of art and power, of science and education, of journalism and conservation. For more than eighty years he plied his talent for wringing everything possible from life. I did meet Jay Darling's only daughter. That happened October 21, 1976, exactly one hundred years following Jay Norwood Darling's birth. At that time, I knew Darling only as a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and a conservationist; a man whose life seemed to span iry interests in American journalism and history. In the months that followed, I studied approximately 15,000 documents, interviewed dozens V of persons, reviewed newspaper files, corresponded with friends, relatives, acquaintances, archivists and admirers. I "lived" with Ding. That experience brought me to two inescapable conclu sions. For one. Jay Darling and I would probably have been unable to rationally discuss domestic or international policy with each other. For another. Ding Darling would have been appalled at my lack of ecological sophistication and espe cially my ignorance of biological science and water management. Probing the record of Darling's life also showed me that he was a fascinating combination of seemingly inconsistent beliefs and attitudes. So far as I could tell, he never wrote an uninteresting letter. He was a man of strong and stubborn conviction; a man capable of tremendous human com passion; a man who enjoyed prodigious powers of expression, uncommon energy and immense, common-sense intellect. I learned that Ding Darling also enjoyed the boundless affection of those who knew him. They were, to a person, eager to help put his life into words. Their eagerness sprouted from affection for the man and not from any notion that the task could be accomplished or that they would bask in Darling's glow. I discovered, also, that I could become infected by the biographer's most deadly malady; that I could become the sub ject's friend and apologist, my inoculation of objectivity notwithstanding. vi I have tried to write an unbiased account of Darling's remarkable and eventful life. The result is a reflection of Darling's values influenced as little as possible by my own system of beliefs. My interpretations and syntheses are certainly open to criticism; but they are mine, conscien tiously arrived at and, I believe, wholly defensible. My editing is also subject to responsible review and that process may result in differences of opinion concerning emphasis on one topic or lack of it on another. Whether the result speaks favorably or unfavorably about Ding to the reader, every word was written with affection. It is my belief that we are often loved as much for our human weaknesses as for our strengths. Ding wouldn't have agreed with that, either! Special thanks are due to Dick and Mary Koss, for their confidence in me, for their candor and for opening their home and hearts to me in my effort to become acquainted with Mary's famous father. Sherry Fisher, Executive Director of the J. N. (Ding) Darling Foundation and a renowned conservationist in his own right, has been encouraging and helpful since the day I decided to follow Ding's lead. Robert McCown and Francis Paluka were most accommodating in making available the well-maintained and carefully- inventoried J. N. Darling and A. F. Allen Papers in the Department of Special Collections at the University of Iowa Library. vii Every person interviewed was gracious and helpful. Most of the sources modestly requested they be given no recogni tion. In deference to their wishes, their names are not listed here. (They do appear, of course, in the Bibliography and in dozens of footnotes.) I am deeply indebted to Carl Hamilton, who is Vice- President for Information and Development at Iowa State University and my boss. This is the third such effort he has not only endured, but aided and abetted, to the detriment of his already incredible work load. I owe much to L. Glenn Smith, Professor of Education at Iowa State University and Chairman of my Graduate Committee, and to the other members of that Committee—Robert L. Crom, Larry H. Ebbers; Arthur M. Gowan and James W. Schwartz—who allowed me the latitude to pursue this unusual research project. Dozens of others deserve commendation and thanks. So many passed along clues, tips, names and suggestions that listing them would run a far greater risk than I am prepared to take.