Does the National Park Service Organic Act Contain an Inherent Conflict and Contradiction?
Some people have argued that the language about providing for the enjoyment of the parks while preserving them unimpaired involves an inherent conflict–a dual, not single focused mission. A scholarly study of the subject was made by the late Yale University History Professor and one-time member of the National Park System Advisory Board Robin W. Winks in which he concluded that: ” . . . the language contained in the preamble to the National Park Service Act of 1916 is not, in fact, contradictory and that Congress did not regard it as contradictory; that to the extent that a contradictory interpretation can be imputed to the sentence to the preamble quoted in the Introduction to this paper, that contradiction can be eliminated by reference to the printed record of Congress at the time, to the private papers of those individuals most directly responsible for framing the language of the act, and to the prevailing canons of rhetoric in 1916. Further, it is argued that subsequent legislati
