Harvey Broome, a 1923 UT graduate, was a lawyer and clerk of court, but his contributions in protecting the natural environment are those for which he is remembered. At UT he was editor of the 1923 Volunteer, president of Chi Delta Literary Society, president of Alpha Pi Epsilon, and a member of the debating team. He earned the LLB from Harvard in 1926.
He served as longtime president of the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club and worked with seven others to found the Wilderness Society in 1935. He served as president of the National Wilderness Society from 1957 to 1968 and worked for establishment of the National Wilderness Preservation System. On September 3, 1964, he joined President Lyndon Johnson as the president signed the Wilderness Act into law—an act that Broome had been instrumental in drafting. His wife published his notes and some of his papers under his name after his death: Harvey Broome: Earth Man, Faces of the Wilderness (1972) and Out under the Sky of Great Smokies (1975).