PRESENTING: LEWIS W. DOUGLAS

The Colorado River, old Big Red, the mean, muddyeyed bandit of the West, has been with us a long time. The debate over the use of the Colorado's water, it seems, has been with us about as long as the river has. That debate has been marked with controversy, acrimony, bitterness, acerbity, resentment, asperity and just plain, old-fashioned cussing, arm-waving, and name-calling.

Following this short essay, we present in this issue a few words more to the many that have been written and spoken about what has always been a touchy subject way out West. We are pleased at this time to present the man who presents these words for us Lewis W. Douglas.

Lewis Williams Douglas, Arizona's most distinguished and illustrious native son and one of America's most distinguished and illustrious citizens, was born in Bisbee, Cochise County, Territory of Arizona, July 2, 1894, the son of James Stuart Douglas and Josephine Leah Williams Douglas. His grandfathers, Dr. James Douglas and Lewis Williams, two of the most prominent citizens in the Territory of Arizona, played leading roles in the development of the Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee and in building the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad to speed the delivery of the immense riches of the Copper Queen to market.

Lewis Douglas' father, James Stuart Douglas, came to Arizona from Canada in 1890 to raise strawberries in the Sulphur Springs Valley. He eventually got into mining himself with notable success and achievement: manager of the Senator Mine and other mining properties in Yavapai County; general manager of the Phelps Dodge properties at Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico; co-developer of the famous United Verde Extension Mine at Jerome; one of the founders of the Bank of Douglas and the Bank of Bisbee; and active participant in many other business ventures in this state. Lewis' grandfather, Dr. James Douglas, was instrumental in building the smelter at Douglas to process ores from the mines at Bisbee. The community, now a thriving city, was named Douglas after him. In the story of those who made copper king in Arizona, the Douglas name ranks high in prominence.

Young Lewis' boyhood in the boisterous mining camps of Bisbee and Nacozari was, to say the least, interesting and active. In the boy, though, any of the harsher influences a turbulent environment might have had on him were softened by the affection and love bestowed on him by a refined and genteel mother. When he was ten years old he was sent East to become a student at Hackley's School at Tarrytown, New York, and later to Montclair Military Academy in New Jersey. During those years his summers were spent in Nacozari, Bisbee or Douglas.

He entered Amherst in 1912. He was graduated Cum Laude from that fine college in 1916, receiving the Faculty Award for outstanding scholarship and leadership.

In the fall of 1916 he entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology for special courses in basic sciences, geology and metallurgy. When World War I broke out he volunteered for service with his country's armed forces. After Officers' Training School he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Field Artillery, and assigned to the 91st Division, one of the early units sent to France. He fought in the Argonne, where he was wounded and gassed, and later in Flanders. He was cited for outstanding service by General Pershing and decorated with Belgium's Croix de Guerre.

At war's end he returned to Amherst to teach history and to study law at Harvard. In June, 1921, he married Peggy Zinsser, culminating a romance which began in college. The couple then headed West for Jerome, Arizona, where Lewis Douglas went to work in his father's mine. He was elected to the Sixth Arizona Legislature in 1922, and engaged in farming (citrus in the Salt River Valley) and mining (he organized the Grand Central Mining Company which profitably worked over the old tailings dumps around Tombstone, using a flotation process he improved to recover oxidized lead and mineral silver from what had been considered waste material.) After serving one term in the State Legislature, he was elected Arizona's sole representative in Congress for three terms. During this decade of what was sometimes hectic political campaigning, three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Douglas: James Stuart, Lewis W. Jr., and Sharman. On March 4, 1933, he was appointed Director of the Budget by President Roosevelt, resigning after serving in that position for eighteen months because he could not agree with the administration's fiscal policies.

Then followed an active career in business and educational pursuits. He served as vice-president of the American Cyanamid Company until 1937 when he was appointed principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University in Montreal, Canada. In 1940 he became president of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, beginning an association that continues to this day (he is currently chairman of the executive committee of Mutual's board of directors).

When the ominous clouds of World War II darkened the horizon, Mr. Douglas turned from private enterprise to give his services to his country, services he performed with ability, devotion, and dedication. In 1941 he was made deputy expediter of Lend-Lease and then deputy administrator of the War Shipping Administration. With Germany's surrender he became special advisor to General Lucius Clay, Deputy Military Governor of Germany. In 1945 he purchased a ranch near Sonoita, Arizona, and formed the Douglas Livestock Company, realizing a life-long ambition of becoming an Arizona rancher. He also is active in Arizona business and banking enterprises, and shows now, as he always has, his deep love of his native land and state. As a public and private citizen, he has always worked tirelessly for the best interests of Arizona and his country, and has never sacrificed his own high ideals for personal benefit.

He responded again to his nation's call in February, 1947, when President Truman appointed him Ambassador to the Court of St. James. He served in that post for nearly four years four crucial years of grave international relations for his country and the world, years of Europe's recovery from the morass of war, years of the establishment of the Marshall Plan, the establishment of the Federal Republic of Western Germany, the organization of the North Atlantic Treaty's community of states and collective rearmament against the threat of Communism. As Ambassador to the Court of St. James, he earned the respect and admiration of the British people for his knowledge, his tact and charm, his strong belief in AngloAmerican cooperation, and his tireless energy in bringing two great peoples closer together. An eye injury, which occurred while fishing on the River Trent in April, 1949, was the chief reason for his resignation as ambassador in 1950. The universal respect, admiration and affection held for him by the British was demonstrated when Queen Elizabeth, in 1957, bestowed on him the honorary Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, one of Britain's highest honors. He has also been honored by having been decorated with the Grand Croix de la Legion d'Honeur (France), and the Gran Croix de l'Order de La Cournne (Belgium). Today, Mr. Douglas is, as he has always been, a very active and industrious man. He is chairman of the boards of the Southern Arizona Bank and Trust Company, Title Guarantee and Trust Company, Douglas Investment Company, Southwestern Research and Development Company; is now or has been director Technical Studies, Inc., Western Bancorporation, General Motors, Continental Oil, Firstamerica Corp., Newmont Mining Corp., International Nickel Co., Empire Trust Co., Union Corp. Ltd., and others. He has also served as trustee of the Rockefeller and Alfred P. Sloan Foundations, and serves or has served many philanthropic, governmental and cultural organizations, including head of the government study of foreign economic problems as their relation to the U. S., 1953; General Education Board, 1935-60; trustee, American Museum of Natural History; national chairman, American Shakespeare Festival Theatre and Academy; Academy of Political Science; administrative consulting director, Institute of of Atmospheric Physics, University of Arizona; board member, Memorial Hospital in New York and the Memorial Cancer Center Fund. He holds honorary doctorate degrees from many leading universities in this country and abroad. To name some: Amherst College (of which he is trustee emeritus), Princeton, Brown, New York U., Wesleyan U., U. of Arizona, and the universities of Leeds, Bristol, Edinburgh, St. Andrews, Birmingham, Glasgow, California, Columbia and Oxford.

Lew Douglas has had many honors bestowed upon him and he has worn many titles in his busy and constructive life. Perhaps the title he wears most proudly is a simple one: Arizona rancher.