When American governors and moguls came together to prevent environmental catastrophe

In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt tasked the Inland Waterways Commission with studying how to better manage rivers. The commissioners recognized a need for interstate coordination. Two commissioners—Gifford Pinchot and William John “WJ” McGee—went further. They asked Roosevelt to invite the country’s governors to Washington to discuss water and natural resources.

Roosevelt complied, inviting the governors of all the states and territories, along with representatives from hundreds of civic, economic, and media organizations, to the White House. The resulting Conference of Governors, beginning May 13, 1908, and lasting three days, offered a glimpse of collaboration that extended beyond normal boundaries of party, state, and industry.

The conference represents a not-so-distant precedent for today’s efforts to extend our political thinking beyond narrow parameters.

The New York Times reported 44 governors attending, though the published proceedings identified 36. Alongside them, four at-large members were invited to “represent the public”—tycoon Andrew Carnegie, railroad executive James J. Hill, labor leader John Mitchell, and Democratic mainstay William Jennings Bryan. 500-some representatives from trade associations, unions, publications joined as observers.

The opening dinner included Supreme Court Justices, and members of the Cabinet and Congress. But the tone of the following day’s conference was serious, even somber. According to Roosevelt’s opening address, “Conservation as a National Duty,” nothing less than the “continuance of the Nation” was at stake. During the 50-minute speech, the president asserted the importance of cooperative planning and for elevating community rights over individuals’ pursuit of riches. “In the past we have admitted the right of the individual to injure the future of the Republic for his own present profit,” Roosevelt said. “The time has come for a change.”

Others shared this view. The following day, railroad executive James J. Hill spoke on “The Natural Wealth of the Land and Its Conservation.” Hill spent most of his allotted time offering chilling statistics of shrinking forests, diminishing ores, and declining soil fertility. He argued that these statistics represented a bleak economic future and a violent political future, borne out of desperation and poverty.

As the conference concluded, the governors approved a slate of resolutions and presented them to President Roosevelt. The declaration’s final line announced the governors’ intent plainly: “Let us conserve the foundations of our prosperity.”

After three days, the governors were eager to discuss collaborating on other matters, such as extradition laws and divorce standards. They resolved to meet regularly thereafter. That commitment eventually turned into the National Governors Association, which now meets twice a year.

Another effect of the summit: Roosevelt appointed the National Conservation Commission, which would inventory the nation’s resources. The commission produced a three-volume report detailing the nation’s dwindling stocks of resources, including estimated dates for when they would be exhausted.

These achievements were all the more striking because the Progressive Era was not harmonious. Progressives saw themselves in a battle between good and evil on behalf of “the people” versus “the interests.” Muckraking journalists took down corruption from city halls to corporate boardrooms. Roosevelt used government power to tame big business. One of the biggest victims was James J. Hill himself: Roosevelt ordered the investigation that led to the 1904 Northern Securities Co. v. United States case that broke up Hill’s holding company.

Still, the participants overcame these differences and set their eyes on the nation’s shared future. Pinchot later wrote that the Conference of Governors had “a conception of the land they lived in that was brand new,” and suggested history might remember the conference as one of history’s turning points.

Today, Roosevelt’s concerns about the risks to the “continuance of the Nation” have transformed into warnings about global catastrophes. Twenty-first-century environmental concerns extend beyond accounting stocks of national resources. Now, researchers aim to identify thresholds of global ecological viability.

Meanwhile, the “common good” is more elusive than ever. Coming together over future shared interests feels like a faraway ambition. Imagine a similar conference today, in which Joe Biden invited Gretchen Whitmer, Ron DeSantis, and Elon Musk to share a stage. Commitments to base politics and baser instincts would produce only vitriol and communicate only enmity.

The 1908 Conference of Governors may not have been the grand historical turning point Pinchot imagined, but it can be a touchstone for us today. A common commitment beyond party, nation, personal interest, and the present must be possible again for the good of the planet and its people.

Adam M. Sowards is an environmental historian and writer. His most recent book is "Making America’s Public Lands: The Contested History of Conservation on Federal Lands." You can find his work here.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: The time American governors and moguls prevented environmental catastrophe