James G. Watt

James Watt (1938-2023) grew up in a ranching family in Wyoming. He gained experience on Capitol Hill as a legislative assistant and chief counsel and then worked on environmental issues at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. From 1969 to 1975 he held various high-level positions within the Department of the Interior under Secretaries Hickel and Morton. He then served on the Federal Power Commission and was the founding president and chief legal officer of the Mountain States Legal Foundation. Watt was sworn in as President Reagan's Cabinet choice for Interior in 1981. Watt carried out Reagan's agenda for deregulation and decentralization but was viewed as a polarizing figure. He put more than a billion dollars toward restoring infrastructure in national parks and added more than 1.6 million acres to the national park and wildlife refuge systems. Yet, for quintupling the amount of land set aside for coal-mining leases and opening more of the Outer Continental Shelf to offshore drilling, Watt drew criticism from environmentalists. In the wake of controversial remarks made during a speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Watt became a political distraction and resigned in November 1983. He subsequently worked as a consultant and lobbyist.

Noteworthy about this portrait is Watt's lapel pin. The Department of the Interior seal traditionally depicts a grazing bison in left profile. Watt, however, proposed a right-facing bison to reflect the political orientation of his administration. While the change to the seal never went into full effect, Watt nonetheless had lapel pins made, and he wore one for his official portrait. Said Watt at the painting's unveiling in 1985, "There will be one seal remaining in the building that has the buffalo moving in the right direction."