15th National Park Service Director Robert Stanton

August 4, 1997 - January, 2001

Robert Stanton

Beginning as a seasonal ranger at Grand Teton National Park in 1962, Robert Stanton served the NPS as a ranger, superintendent, deputy regional director, assistant director, and regional director of the National Capital Region before retiring in January 1997. That August the Clinton administration restored him to active duty, making him the first NPS careerist since Dickenson to head the bureau. Also its first African American director, Stanton has taken particular interest in increasing the diversity of the service's staff and public programs to better serve minority populations.