lorida."
- Douglas in 1947 published her book, "The Everglades: River of Grass," described by the National Park Service as the "definitive description of the natural treasure she fought so hard to protect." Later that year, she was an honored guest when President Harry Truman dedicated the Everglades National Park, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
- In the 1950s, Douglas railed against a major project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a system of canals, levees, dams and pumping stations designed to protect marshland -- now used for agriculture and real estate -- from flooding. The National Park Service credits Douglas with fighting the destruction of the wetlands long before scientists realized the effects it would have on Florida's ecosystem.
- In 1969, she founded the nonprofit Friends of the Everglades, which continues to fight for the wetlands today.
- Co-author John Rothchild, in the introduction to Douglas' autobiography, described watching her speak at a 1973 public meeting regarding a Corps of Engineers permit: "When she spoke, everybody stopped slapping (mosquitoes) and more or less came to order. She reminded us all of our responsibility to nature and I don't remember what else. Her voice had the sobering effect of a one-room schoolmarm's. The tone itself seemed to tame the rowdiest of the local stone crabbers, plus the developers and the lawyers on both sides. I wonder if it didn't also intimidate the mosquitoes. The request for a Corps of Engineers permit was eventually turned down. This was no surprise to those of us who'd heard her speak."
- Douglas was inducted into the National Wildlife Federation's Conservation Hall of Fame in 1999, and into the National Women's Hall of Fame a year later.
- When discussing the issue of mankind and humans' attitude toward nature, Douglas pulled no punches. "I'll tell you, the whole thing is an enormous battle between man's intelligence and his stupidity," she told NPR. "And I'm not at all sure that stupidity isn't going to win out in the long run."
- She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor, by President Bill Clinton in 1993. She later donated the medal to Wellesley College.
- On the same day she received the medal from President Clinton, Douglas was invited to witness the signing of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, commonly called the Brady Bill, according to the Daily Beast. The bill, named for Jim Brady, the press secretary critically injured during the 1981 attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, established a federal background check for those wanting to purchase a firearm.
Cruz passed a background check in February 2017 when he legally bought the assault rifle used in last week’s massacre at Stoneman Douglas.