Interview with Hoddy Hildreth by Mike Hastings

Biographial Note

Horace “Hoddy” Hildreth was born on December 17, 1931, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Katherine Cable Wing and Horace A. Hildreth, Sr. His father attended Bowdoin College and Harvard Law School, was Maine state senator, and later served as Maine’s governor from 1942 to 1946. His mother, Katherine Hildreth, was from the Midwest and attended Vassar College. Hoddy was graduated from Bowdoin College with a major in English and was a classmate of George Mitchell. He earned his law degree at Columbia and then returned to Maine to practice law at Pierce Atwood, where he did lobbying for paper companies. He was elected to the state Senate in 1966 and worked on creating environmental and conservation laws. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1968, then started his own law practice and began an environmental lobby in Augusta. He practiced law until 1979, when he became executive director for his father’s company, Diversified Communications. Although mostly retired from the company, he continues an active involvement with conservation issues. At the time of this interview, he was on the boards for the Conservation Law Foundation and the Maine League of Conservation Voters.

Summary