As U.S. secretary of the interior for 13 years, Harold LeClaire Ickes (1874-1952) played a key role in developing New Deal policies.

Harold L. Ickes was born March 15, 1874, on a farm near Holidaysburg, Pa. He grew up in nearby Altoona, where his father ran a store and dabbled in local politics. At the age of 16, after his mother's death, he went to Chicago to live with his aunt and uncle. Following his graduation from high school, Ickes attended the University of Chicago part time, graduating in 1897. Ten years later he also received his law degree from the university, although he never maintained a regular practice. In 1907 he married Anna Wilmarth Thompson, a wealthy widow, with whom he had a son.

Ickes was a prominent local and regional political adviser and campaign organizer for reform-minded Republican office seekers in Illinois. However, his political irregularity was notorious in party circles...