Senator Henry M. Jackson was a founding father of the environmental movement, and he helped design and secure the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act and the nation’s first National Energy Act. He played a major role in establishing statehood for Hawaii and Alaska by guiding the required legislation through an often hostile Congress. Jackson was one of the first American politicians to emphasize the significance of human rights in international relations, culminating in the passage of the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. He helped unify American foreign policy by identifying international communism as a political and ethical threat in the modern world.
The Henry M. Jackson Foundation was founded in 1983 to continue the unfinished work of the late Senator Jackson in the areas in which he played a key leadership role: international affairs; human rights; environment, energy and natural resources management; and public service.