The Wilderness Act of 1964 went through numerous discussions and drafts before finally being enacted during the 88th Congress.
Before the 88th Congress
The concept of developing a federal Wilderness system through Congress began to be seriously explored when in 1948 a group of Congressional members requested a report be compiled on the topic through the Legislative Reference Service within the Library of Congress.[5] The report was completed a year later, and the results released the data that had been requested which provided more information on the current state of federal land.[5] In 1956, about seven years later, the first committee hearings began in House and Senate on the topic of protecting Wildlife Refuge areas. The first drafts of the Wilderness Act were introduced in the House in January of 1957, where 6 bills were introduced over a span of four days. One month later the Senate also introduced a draft bill of the Wilderness Act.
President John F. Kennedy was a supporter of the Wilderness Act, his administration worked to rally Legislators to pass the bill.[6] During the 87th Congressional session the Senate voted and passed a version of the Wilderness Act, however it never made it to a vote in the House and its overall fate was regarded as uncertain at the time.[7]
The 88th Congress
Early in the 88th Congressional term the Senate debated and eventually passed the Wilderness Bill in April 1963. After President Kennedy's assassination, President Lyndon B Johnson continued the executive efforts for the Wilderness Act to be passed. During a press conference on June 23, 1963 President Johnson included the Wilderness Act as a pieces of legislation needed to be passed in his list of 30 "musts".[8] After going to a conference committee to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill, the Act eventually was eventually signed into law by President Johnson on September 3, 1964.
The pioneering research and advocacy work of Margaret and Olaus Murie and Celia Hunter, along with the Alaska Conservation Society, was crucial to the passage of the Wilderness Act, and to the creation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Margaret Murie testified passionately before Congress in favor of the Wilderness Act.[13] Margaret worked with Wilderness Society staffer Howard Zahniser, author of the bill, to promote passage of the act, and she attended the signing ceremony.[14]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilderness_Act
