Description
This biography recounts a century of accomplishments, from Hechler’s introduction of innovative teaching methods at major universities, to his work as a speechwriter and researcher for President Harry Truman, and in the end to his time representing West Virginia in america House of Representatives and because the secretary of state.
In West Virginia, where he resisted mainstream political ideology, Hechler was once the principal architect in the back of the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 and repeatedly battled big coal, strip-mining, and fellow politicians alike. He and his signature red jeep remain a fixture in West Virginia. Since 2004, Hechler has campaigned against mountaintop removal mining. He was once arrested for trespassing throughout a protest in 2009 on the age of 94.