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Missoula is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot rivers in western Montana and at the convergence of five mountain ranges, and thus it is often described as the "hub of five valleys". The 2020 United States census recorded the city's population at 73,489 and the population of the Missoula Metropolitan Area at 117,922. As of 2023, the estimated city population was 77,757. Missoula is the second largest city and metropolitan area in Montana. Missoula is home to the University of Montana, a public research university.
Maxwell Sieben Baucus is an American politician who served as a United States senator from Montana from 1978 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a U.S. senator for over 35 years, making him the longest-serving U.S. senator in Montana history. President Barack Obama appointed Baucus to replace Gary Locke as the 11th U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China, a position he held from 2014 until 2017.
Brian David Schweitzer is an American farmer and politician who served as the 23rd Governor of Montana from 2005 to 2013. Schweitzer served for a time as chair of the Western Governors Association as well as the Democratic Governors Association. He also served as President of the Council of State Governments.
Wild Montana is a grassroots conservation organization founded by a group of Montana outfitters, ranchers, doctors, and friends. The organization is governed by a board of directors from across Montana, working at the local level through seven chapters in Helena, Bozeman, Missoula, Whitefish, Great Falls, Billings, and Butte. Each chapter is governed by a local board of directors. Since 1958, Wild Montana has worked to protect Montana's wilderness, wildlife habitat, and traditional recreation opportunities. The organization was instrumental in the passage of the 1964 Wilderness Act and in the designation of every Wilderness area in the state, like the Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, and Absaroka-Beartooth Wildernesses. It also helped win National Wild and Scenic Rivers System designations for the Missouri and Flathead rivers, and National Monument status for the Upper Missouri River Breaks.
Lee Warren Metcalf was an American lawyer, judge, and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Representative (1953–1961) and a U.S. Senator (1961–1978) from Montana. He was the first of Montana's U.S. Senators to be born in the state, and was Permanent Acting President pro tempore of the Senate, the only one to hold that position, from 1963 until his death in 1978.
John Patrick Williams is an American Democratic legislator who represented Montana in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1997.
Annick Smith is a French-born American writer and filmmaker whose work often focuses on the natural world.
William Kittredge was an American writer from Oregon, United States, who lived mostly in Missoula, Montana.
The 2008 United States Senate election in Montana was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Senator Max Baucus won re-election to a sixth term in a landslide, winning more than 70% of the vote and carrying every county in the state, despite Republican John McCain's narrow victory in the state in the concurrent presidential election. Baucus later resigned his seat on February 6, 2014 after the Senate confirmed him to be U.S. Ambassador to China, having already announced his intention to retire at the end of term on April 23, 2013. As of 2024, this is the last time Democrats won the Class 2 Senate seat in Montana.
Wallace D. "Wally" McRae is an American rancher, cowboy, cowboy poet and philosopher. He runs the 30,000-acre (120 km2) Rocker Six Cattle Co. ranch on Rosebud Creek, south of Rosebud, Montana.
Michael R. Cooney is an American politician who served as the 36th lieutenant governor of Montana from 2016 to 2021. He previously served in the Montana House of Representatives (1977–1981), as the secretary of state of Montana (1989–2001), in the Montana Senate (2003–2011), as the president of the Montana Senate (2007–2009) and ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Montana in 2000. Cooney was the Democratic nominee for governor of Montana in the 2020 election, losing to Republican U.S. Representative Greg Gianforte.
Debra Cecille Magpie Earling is a Native American novelist, and short story writer. She is a member of the Bitterroot Salish (tribe). She is the author of Perma Red and The Lost Journals of Sacajewea, which was on display at the Missoula Museum of Art in late 2011. Her work has also appeared in Ploughshares, the Northeast Indian Quarterly, and many anthologies.
Corey Stapleton is an American politician and musician who served as the Secretary of State of Montana from 2017 to 2021. A Republican, he served as a member of the Montana State Senate from 2001 to 2009.
The 2014 United States Senate election in Montana took place on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate from Montana, concurrently with other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
John Edward Walsh is an American real estate agent, former politician and former military officer who served as a United States Senator from Montana from 2014 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a colonel in the Army National Guard, the adjutant general of the Montana National Guard with a state commission as a brigadier general from 2008 to 2012 and the 34th Lieutenant Governor of Montana from 2013 to 2014 under Governor Steve Bullock.
Douglas H. Chadwick is an American wildlife biologist, author, photographer and frequent National Geographic contributor. He is the author of fourteen books and more than 200 articles on wildlife and wild places.
Angela McLean is an American politician and educator who served as the 35th Lieutenant Governor of Montana from February 10, 2014, to January 3, 2016. Governor Steve Bullock, a Democrat, selected McLean in 2014 to replace newly appointed U.S. Senator John Walsh after appointing Walsh to the vacancy created by Senator Max Baucus's resignation.
Michael W. Punke is an American author, attorney, academic, and policy analyst. He is a former Deputy United States Trade Representative and U.S. Ambassador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2017, he became vice president for public policy at Amazon Web Services.
In Montana, an at-large congressional district special election was held on May 25, 2017, to determine the member of the United States House of Representatives for Montana's at-large congressional district. The election was necessitated by incumbent Republican Representative Ryan Zinke's appointment as United States Secretary of the Interior. Zinke resigned on March 1, 2017, upon his confirmation.
Brian Anthony D'Ambrosio is an American journalist and author best known for his interview-based books about Montana subjects. In 2023, he was indicted for theft of archival documents stored at the Montana Historical Society.
References
- 1 2 Struckman, Robert (August 14, 2005). "Origins of 'The Last Best Place' debatable". Missoulian. Archived from the original on October 13, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
- ↑ Kittredge, William; Smith, Annick (June 1, 1990). The last best place: a Montana anthology (paperback ed.). Montana: University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0295969749.
- 1 2 3 Robbins, Jim (August 17, 2008). "In Montana, a Popular Expression Is Taken Off the Endangered List". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
The wording was coined by Mr. Kittredge, then a professor of creative writing at the University of Montana, in a brainstorming session for the book at a resort near Yellowstone park. "I was thinking of the book 'The Last Good Kiss' by James Crumley, and Lincoln's statement that the U.S. was the last best hope of mankind," Mr. Kittredge said. "The phrase popped into my head and I said, 'How about The Last Best Place?'"
- 1 2 Smith, Annick (January 27, 2018). "Still the last best place?". Missoulian. Archived from the original on September 4, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
