The Alaska Statehood Act () was introduced by Delegate E.L. Bob Bartlett and signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 7, 1958. As a result, Alaska became the 49th U.S. state on January 3, 1959. The law was the culmination of a multi-decade effort by many prominent Alaskans, including Bartlett, Ernest Gruening, Bill Egan, Bob Atwood, and Ted Stevens.
The law was first introduced by James Wickersham in 1916, shortly after the First Organic Act. However, due to a lack of interest from Alaskans, the bill was never introduced. Efforts ramped up in 1943, with Bartlett's rendition of the act being introduced first in 1947 and 1950, with the backing of President Harry Truman. However, due to opposition from powerful southern U.S. Congressmen, it took until 1958 to pass the law, with the convincing of Bob Bartlett. Gruening worked on rallying support from Alaskans, launching the Alaska Constitutional Convention in 1956, which elected Bill Egan and Gruening as Shadow U.S. Senators, and Ralph Rivers as the Shadow U.S. Representative, working towards pressuring the U.S. Congress for Alaska's statehood. Atwood similarly rallied support by using his job as a trusted news source to rally Alaskans for statehood. Stevens worked on masterminding the executive branch's attack, (illegally) using his powerful executive office as Solicitor of the Department of the Interior, along with Interior Secretary Fred Seaton, to lobby for Alaska's statehood, placing reporters in any and all news hearings to pressure President Eisenhower & Congressmen to switch in favor of the law. Stevens also authored parts of the Act (namely Section 10).
Roger Ernst, Seaton's former Assistant Secretary for Public Land Management, said of Stevens: "He did all the work on statehood; he wrote 90 percent of all the speeches. Statehood was his main project."
History
From 1867 to 1884, Alaska was considered to be a military district of the United States under the control of the federal government, known as the Department of Alaska. From 1884 to 1912, it was designated as the District of Alaska, and from 1912 to 1959, it was organized into the incorporated Territory of Alaska. Alaskans had sought statehood since as early as the 1920s, though this vision was not realized until the decade after World War II.
The First Organic Act
In 1884, the Department of Alaska was organized into the District of Alaska, when Congress passed the Organic Act allowing Alaska to become a judicial district as well as a civil one, with judges, clerks, marshalls, and limited government officials appointed by the federal government to run the territory. Furthermore, during the 1896–1910 gold rush eras (mainly in the cities of Klondike, Nome, and Fairbanks), hundreds of thousands of people traveled to Alaska in search for gold. Several industries flourished as a result, such as fishing, trapping, mining, and mineral production. Alaska's resources were depleted to the extent that it came to be considered a "colonial economy". However, Alaska was still considered a district, and local governments often had little control over local affairs.
The Second Organic Act
Several issues arose that made it more difficult for Alaska to push toward self-government. One of these was the formation of the "Alaska Syndicate" in 1906 by the two industry barons J. P. Morgan and Simon Guggenheim. Their influence spread, and they came to control the Kennecott copper mine, steamship and railroad companies, and salmon packing. The influence of the Syndicate in Washington D.C. opposed any further movement towards Alaskan home rule. James Wickersham, however, grew increasingly concerned over the exploitation of Alaska for personal and corporate interests and took it upon himself to fight for Alaskan self-rule. He used the Ballinger–Pinchot affair in order to help achieve this. As a result of the affair, Alaska was on the national headlines, and President William Howard Taft was forced to send a message to Congress on February 2, 1912, insisting that they listen to Wickersham. In August 1912 Congress passed the Second Organic Act, which established the Territory of Alaska with a capital at Juneau and an elected legislature. The federal government still retained much of the control over laws regarding fishing, gaming, and natural resources and the governor was also still appointed by the President. In 1916, Wickersham, who was now a delegate to Congress, proposed the first bill for Alaska's statehood. The bill, however, failed, partly due to lack of interest among Alaskans in gaining statehood.
