[7] A political liberal, he protected the environment by minimizing the control of business interests held over the public domain and by concentrating decision-making in the hands of experts in the Interior Department.

During World War II, the family moved to Eugene in early 1942, when "Cece" was 11, where Hal (1906–2004)[10] and his brother Bud opened a machine shop to refurbish sawmill equipment.

[11] Andrus graduated from Eugene High School in 1948 at age 16 and attended Oregon State College in Corvallis, where he majored in engineering in his freshman year.

[12] At age 17, he got a good summer job with the local utility in 1949, and late in August, he eloped to Reno with Carol Mae May (born December 26, 1932), his high school sweetheart.

After his discharge from the Navy, Andrus moved to Orofino in northern Idaho, where he worked in the timber industry in a variety of jobs at a sawmill his father co-owned.

[18] Seven weeks before the November election, Herndon and two others died in a twin-engine private plane crash in the mountains six miles (10 km) northwest of Stanley,[19] while en route from Twin Falls to Coeur d'Alene in mid-September.

[25] This was attributed in large part to Andrus's public opposition to proposals for development of molybdenum mining in central Idaho's White Cloud Mountains, which Samuelson supported.

[26][27] During his first term as governor, Andrus played a key role in winning support by the U.S. Congress for federal designation of the Sawtooth Wilderness Area in the State of Idaho.

I actually had to listen to the idiotic argument (from the Wilderness Society and Sierra Club's paid Washington lobbyists) that they could get a better Alaska package out of Reagan and Watt.

He also brokered a path-breaking agreement among land use and conservation interests to control water pollution from nonpoint sources to protect riparian and fish habitat in Idaho's rivers and streams.

[citation needed] In September 1989, Andrus closed off the Idaho border to nuclear waste shipments from the federal government's Rocky Flats site near Denver.

[citation needed] In 1990, Andrus drew attention when he vetoed a bill, passed by the legislature, which "would have made abortion illegal except in cases of non-statutory rape reported within seven days, incest if the victim was under 18, severe fetal deformity or where the pregnancy posed a threat to the mother's life.

"[39] Andrus was easily re-elected later that year against conservative Republican state senator Roger Fairchild of Fruitland,[40] and won every county except Lemhi and Jefferson.

[citation needed] On April 3, 1990, he signed House Bill 817 into law, creating two new types of felony crimes, defined new criminal investigation areas, provided the basis for opening ritual child abuse cases based upon probable cause, and provided a framework for extensive ritual child abuse investigation training throughout Idaho.

[42] Andrus was succeeded by Phil Batt of Wilder, the first Republican to win a gubernatorial election in Idaho since 1966; he served a single term and did not seek a second in 1998.