This Week in Alaskan History: Then President Dwight Eisenhower signed a proclamation on January 3, 1959 which admitted the territory of Alaska into the Union. With a flick of his pen, Eisenhower made Alaska not only the 49th state, but the largest as well.
“Seward’s Folly”
Ninety-two years prior, then Secretary of State William H. Seward signed a treaty with Russia on March 30, 1867 and purchased Alaska for $7.2 million. At the time, both Congress and the press ridiculed the purchase: referring to it as “Seward’s folly”, “Seward’s icebox”, and then President Andrew Johnson’s “polar bear garden”. However, the discovery of gold in Alaska during the year of 1898 brought an influx of people into the area. People continued to move to the territory after learning of the other natural resources Alaska provided.
Ernest Gruening and Edward Bartlett
In 1939, twenty years before Alaska’s statehood was made official, then President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Ernest Gruening governor of Alaska. That same year, Roosevelt appointed Edward Bartlett secretary of Alaska. Five years later, in 1944, Bartlett secured the position of Territorial Delegate from Alaska to Congress. Starting in 1945, Delegate Bartlett was Alaska’s only official representative in Congress.
Gruening and Bartlett Lead The Statehood Movement
Governor Gruening, Delegate Bartlett, and a cross-section of Alaska’s established business and professional men and women worked toward statehood for Alaska in the 1940’s and 50’s. Gruening found himself frustrated by the fact that even though Alaska was an American territory, because it wasn’t a state, it struggled along without adequate roads, hospitals, and reasonable shipping costs, among other things. During the same time Gruening, Bartlett, and more well-known Alaskans were pushing for Alaskan statehood, thousands of regular Alaskans began to push for statehood as well.
Statehood Achieved
Thanks to their persistence and to the many friendships Bartlett made in Washington, Alaska’s statehood cause fully materialized in the first week of 1959. A forty-ninth star had been added to the American flag.
The Merdes Law Firm has been helping injured Alaskans for more than 30 years. It’s who we are. And while we hope you never need us … We’re here if you do. ~ Ward Merdes
Info Source: History.com and Xroads.Virginia.edu
Photo Source: Timpanogos.blog
