Gaylord A. Nelson, 1916-2005

I’ve written hundreds of thousands of words about Gaylord Nelson, but I don’t feel like writing much today.

Gaylord Nelson had an enormous, lasting impact on Wisconsin politics and on the worldwide environmental movement. He leaves a huge legacy. But for all his accomplishments, at heart he still remained a small-town boy from Wisconsin who couldn’t quite believe this was all happening to him. He never lost that small-town civility and charm, and a genuine interest in people, which is what made him so endearing and also made him so successful in politics.

He was a great man and a remarkable, extraordinary, wonderful human being. I feel lucky and privileged to be the one to write his biography and, in the process, to get to know and become friends with Gaylord, his wife, Carrie Lee, and their family.

I miss him already.

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Others write about him:

Washington Post.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, by longtime Nelson friend Frank Aukofer.

The Capital Times.

New York Times.