Political Quotes

“in the middle of the Great Depression, the people in Tennessee and North Carolina looked around and said: Why are all the national parks out West? So Tennessee contributed $2 million, and North Carolina contributed $2 million, and John D. Rockefeller Jr. said: I will give $5 million in honor of my mother if you can match it. The children of North Carolina and Tennessee in schools raised another million dollars in community efforts, and the Great Smokey Mountain National Park was created and given to the people of the United States. So the people of Tennessee and North Carolina gave that to the United States and, today, more than 12 million Americans visit it. There are a lot more people who visit it than live in Tennessee and North Carolina, and part of the deal was that there would be no entrance fee. The one thing that we wanted or our grandparents wanted at the time was that the American people be good stewards of what we gave to the American people. Today, thanks to the leadership of Senators Warner, Portman, King, Manchin, Heinrich, Daines, and Gardner on the Land and Water Conservation Fund, that has happened. I am proud to be a part of it. This is the most significant piece of conservation legislation in at least a half century, and it represents a recognition by the American people that we can be good stewards of what Ken Burns has called ``our greatest idea,'' our national parks and our remaining public lands.”