However , in November 1963 Aspinall made a deal with John Kennedy . Aspinall greatly desired a public land review commission ( see below ) , while one of Kennedy 's primary goals was the passage of the Wilderness Act . Aspinall agreed to release the bill in exchange for the administration 's cooperation with the land commission . ( Also , Kennedy 's assassination on November 22 , 1963 created an ethos in Washington that essentially made Kennedy a martyr . Lyndon Johnson took up and pushed through many of his legislative goals because of public empathy . ) Before Aspinall let the Wilderness Act of 1964 pass , he dropped the original request of 55 million acres ( 220,000 km ² ) of protected wilderness to only 9.1 million acres ( 37,000 km ² ) . He also inserted a clause , called the " 1984 clause , " that allowed mining interests to still have access to many of these areas until December 31 , 1983 . Despite these concessions , the House passed it 373-1 and Lyndon Johnson signed it in September . The act also refused to turn over exclusive power to the executive branch , keeping some power in Congress for public land oversight . Ironically , the National Wildlife Federation named Aspinall their " Conservationist of the Year " in 1964 for his role in the eventual passage of the bill
Kennedy 's assassination
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
Wayne N. Aspinall